The Girl With One Eye
by Labor Of Love
Summary: Soulmate AU Persephone Evans never understood her soulmark, and after life had given her the biggest possible smack to the face (or eye), she stopped trying to find "the one". But fate is a funny thing, and the mysterious man she meets in New Mexico is only the beginning. Loki/OC/Vision
1. Welcome to New Mexico

**Puente Antiguo, New Mexico**

Persephone Evans strolled into the diner and was greeted by a friendly waitress. The 25 year old was starved after spending the waking hours unpacking her luggage into her rental apartment and didn't have the heart to cook despite going grocery shopping.

"Table for one, hun?" She nodded her head and was ushered to follow the woman to a nearby table for four, who kindly pulled out the chair for her to sit. She muttered an awkward thank you. "Let me get you some water."

Left to her own devices, she began to flip through the menu with one hand while absentmindedly fiddling with and poking the eyepatch on the right side of her face. It was definitely hot in New Mexico, and the added bit of cloth on her face was more uncomfortable than anticipated. She had gotten a fair bit of strange glances as she had gotten in and out of her car, most people probably didn't ever consider that it was possible to drive with only one eye.

She wanted to rip the damn eyepatch off her face.

"My word, Dr. Evans?" She looked up from her menu to see an elderly plump man in khakis and a button down shirt and a brunette young woman who looked rather bored. The man was smiling at her with admiration and stuck out his right hand, which she hesitantly shook. "Dr. Erik Selvig, and this is one of my students, Darcy. I'm a huge fan of your work with Dr. Warren on the neuron equations of the retina."

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Selvig, Darcy. But actually I never got my doctorate, so I'm just a Miss." Wanting to be polite, she motioned to the empty seats at her table. "Would you like to join me?"

The two sat down and were handed menus by the waitress when she circled back around. Percy was trying to decide between eggs and pancakes while half listening as Selvig gushed to Darcy about who she was, the brunette's eyes widened in recognition and her indifferent expression morphed into a toothy grin.

"Woah, so you're that chick with the robot eye?" She asked with awe, before nodding her head up in down with a small smile. "Awesome."

"Darcy!"

"No, it's fine, I get that a lot." Percy waved her hand as if it were no big deal. Darcy was right, after all.

Her right eye was straight up robotic, through years of hard work and mind grueling research in her college years she was able to work with a brilliant neurobiologist to develop the first functional artificial eye. Sometimes she wanted to forget all about that, all the strange yet awestruck looks that followed her when she walked down the street.

Sometimes she wanted to just be eyepatch girl, she could say from personal experience that no one ever really wanted to talk to eyepatch girl.

"Ready to order?"

* * *

"So is your left eye the robot one and you're getting surgery to replace the other one to get full future vision?" Darcy took a long sip of her water, staring intently at Percy.

"No..." She chuckled awkwardly at the innocence of the question. "My bionic eye doesn't look as... _natural_ as my real one and sometimes it freaks people out, especially in small towns like this."

"So what brings a nobel prize winning engineer to New Mexico?" Selvig questioned while Percy was mid-bite into a piece of toast. She quickly swallowed and forced the food down with a sip of coffee.

"I make military radios. Boring, I know, but it pays the bills and then some. The company I work for is short staffed at the moment so I have the _honor_ of implementing the test procedures for some... devices not too far from here."

"Seems like a downgrade from the medical manufacturing realm, in my opinion." She chuckled at that remark, he certainly wasn't wrong. Her work was basically the equivalent of a 9 to 5 desk job with a bit more travel.

"You have me at a disadvantage, Dr. Selvig. What sort of work do you do?"

"I'm an astrophysicist, currently I'm working on the research left behind by a former colleague of mine. He documented seventeen magnificent anomalies in his time, and through his notes I was able to decipher the star charts to determine where the next one will occur."

"What sort of anomalies? Giant holes of darkness?"

"Not quite, I haven't seen them for myself yet but from his notes he always described them as breathtakingly beautiful... like miniature auroras."

"Sounds great..." Just from the simple conversation between the three of them, it all came as a great awakening for Percy.

She was lonely, _painfully_ lonely.

She couldn't even remember the last time she had shared a meal besides someone other than a co-worker that talked about nothing beyond work. Seeing the glimmer in Selvig's eye as he explained the notes left by his colleague woke something within her heart, the curiosity and excitement the older man showed made her envious.

"By any chance, would you need any help recording the anomalies?" Glancing around to see that no one was looking their way, Percy lifted her eyepatch slightly to reveal her mechanical eye, which just so happened to be a wonderful camera and heat sensor.

"Oh, sick! Erik she should totally come help us out!" Darcy slammed her hands down on the table, alerting the other nearby patrons. "She's really smart so she can help you with all the sciency stuff, and I'll finally have someone my own age around! It's a win-win!"

And that's how she ended up in the middle of the desert with two total strangers.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello! This is my first attempt at writing a story, so I hope you like it!**

 **If it wasn't obvious, Jane doesn't appear in this universe so there will definitely be some Thor bonding when he comes into the picture, which will be very soon. I intend to write this as a Loki/OC/Vision because I think both of them are darlings, but obviously there's going to be a lotttt of just Loki for a while, so look forward to that!**


	2. It's Raining Man

**CHAPTER 2**

"So, you marked?" The two women were leisurely laying on a couple of lawn chairs by the side of the road, glancing at the sky through binoculars when Darcy popped the question, her partner snorting in response.

"Do you ask that to everyone you meet?" Darcy pretended to think for a minute with a slight frown before bobbing her head up and down casually.

"Yeah, pretty much." They looked at each other and laughed. Darcy started to wiggle her eyebrows suggestively, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours~"

Percy turned around to look at the RV parked behind them and saw no sign of Selvig, who had disappeared a while ago in an attempt to redo his calculations since the anomaly had not yet appeared. She turned back to Darcy with a smile and jutted her chin forward, egging the 20 year old on.

"Alright then, strip."

Darcy removed the binoculars from around her neck and started to undo the top buttons on the flannel she was wearing, stopping around her chest. Pulling the fabric to her left side, she revealed the words that were scrawled above her bra.

 _Am I in the right place for the internship?_ Was written in a very neat and crisp handwriting that was definitively masculine.

"Awwww, that's so sweet, it's right above your heart!" Percy cooed, and Darcy stuck her tongue out in childish anger before re-buttoning her shirt. Percy smiled at her with a sad and knowing look. "So that's why you applied for this, huh?"

"Whatcha mean?" Darcy asked, avoiding eye contact.

"I bet you've applied to _loaaads_ of internships and research opportunities because you hope he'll be there one day." She could have sworn she saw Darcy blush, but it was too dark to be sure.

"I guess you're pretty smart for a Nobel prize winner." Darcy teased. "Now show me yours!"

"Alright, alright!" She said defensively, a bit nervous since she hadn't really shown it to anyone before. "I'm warning you, it doesn't make any sense." She rolled up the right leg of her sweatpants past her knee, the skin not taking kindly to the cold wind that greeted it.

 _Gambling with your pitiful life and this is the best weapon you could procure? Truly pathetic._ Was the long quote that covered her knee pit in elegant script.

It had been with her since she was born, which was rare in itself. Soulmarks usually appeared as each person matured and the universe decided that people were best suited for one another. Most people got them in young adulthood, about one in five people never got them at all, but even less than that were born with them.

"Geez you weren't kidding..." After she had read the whole thing, Darcy was trying to hold back a bout of giggles, and failing miserably. "Seriously, who the fuck talks like that?"

"Hell if I know, and trust me I've tried it all, community theater, Ren fairs, creative writing classes, D&D sessions..." She counted all her past hobbies on her fingers before throwing her hands dramatically in the air. "And nothing, nada, zilch!"

Looking back, she hated that period of her life. All of those things, they weren't her. She wasn't sociable enough and never clicked with any of the extroverted people she met. Her early college years would have been so much easier if her mark said something like _Welcome to the library,_ or _Do you know how to program this CNC mill?_

Secretly she had hoped that her mate's mark said something equally ridiculous and he was exactly like her, they would be auditioning for some crappy play together, laugh, and move on with their lives. But as it was, her best bet would be some eccentric street performer or some form of LARPer. She had come to terms with that, and saved money whenever she could so she could be supportive of her soulmate's interests without having to worry about his income.

"I stopped looking after, _this..._ " She gestured to her eye, "happened."

After she lost her eye, the recovery process had been a cruel mistress. Not only had her eye been damaged beyond repair but severe bruising and pulsating pain had been present on the right half of her face for months afterward. She couldn't push herself to pretend to enjoy acting anymore or any of the other clubs she joined in hopes to finding her other half. She decided then and there that she would leave it up to fate.

"I still think it's cool, you look like you'd be... I dunno, Iron Man's sidekick or something who blasts stuff from her laser eye."

"It's not a laser, Darcy."

"Or is that just what you _want_ me to think?" The girls shared another round of banter until Selvig finally emerged from the RV, notes and machines to detect atmospheric pressure in hand.

"This is strange... all the previous encounters were predictable down to the second."

"Maybe there's a lurking variable you've overlooked?" Percy approached Selvig from behind, taking the notebook out of his hands. This stuff was a bit out of her realm, after all she was a mechanical engineer, not a physicist, but she wanted to at least try and be helpful. Her pointer finger followed the erratic flow of calculations that were spread out across the pages but there didn't seem to be any obvious error that screamed out to her.

"Well if there was, I wouldn't know it would I?" He said, almost defeatist. She could empathize, she knew the feeling of failure all too well. "These atmospheric disturbances are exactly in line for what we would be expecting, what am I missing?"

"Um, you guys?" Darcy said meekly, the two turned around to see the massive storm in the distance. Percy gawked, but quickly pressed the record button on her bracelet so that they could look at the footage later. Swirling clouds refracted against each other as if they were all illuminated by a rainbow light as they all churned up above. How was it all possible? The sky had been clear just a few minutes ago.

"Any chance that's your anomaly, Dr. Selvig?" The three of them rushed into the RV, Selvig himself going straight towards the low-tech measurement equipment.

"We have to be within a mile radius of the event to gather a decent magnetic reading!"

"On it, buckle up!" Percy sprung into action, clicking her own seatbelt into place before putting the vehicle into drive and hitting the gas. She tried to keep her sights on the storm, and it wasn't very hard. Selvig hadn't been lying when he had implied it would be beautiful. Rainbows at nighttime? Unheard of.

"You can't be serious!"

"Come on, you're twenty, right? Where's your sense of _just fuck it?!_ " A swirling tornado of flashing colors and dark storm clouds seemed to grow and grow, and lightening struck next to the RV as they were closing in distance.

"Forget this! I'm not dying for six credits!" In that instant Darcy grabbed the wheel of the vehicle in an attempt to turn them around. The moment startled Percy who instinctively grabbed the wheel tighter to steer them back in their original direction, her foot acting a second too slow in pushing the brakes.

And that was when they hit someone.

"I think legally that was your fault." Darcy whispered, the two of them frozen in shock after feeling the collision. Within moments the three of them ran out, a body lay unmoving a couple of yards away. Percy ran up, getting down on her knees next to the man.

"Do you have a first aid kit in there?!" Selvig nodded frantically and ran back to the RV to retrieve it. "Sir, are you breathing?" He didn't respond. Percy grabbed his wrist and tried to feel a pulse point, but couldn't seem to find it. She pulled her hair to the side and lowered her ear and positioned it above the man's mouth. She heard faint breathing and sighed in relief.

"Wow. Does he need CPR? Because I know CPR." Darcy shined her miniature flashlight on the mystery man, and there was no denying he was the definition of handsome. His long blonde hair and stubbly beard gave off a sort of lumberjack vibe, and he definitely had the muscles for it.

Percy actually felt a blush creeping up to her cheeks, thinking about how her face had been so close to his. She personally had a weakness for guys with long hair, something she didn't see very often. Her right knee started to tingle with a warm sensation, she had probably sprained herself slamming the brake.

She had to focus, handsome or not, she had just _hit this man with an RV._

"He needs a hospital, he probably broke some bones with a hit like that." The man finally opened his eyes, squinting at the brightness of the flashlight and gave Percy a passing look of indifference before scrambling to his feet as if nothing had happened.

"Do you have x-ray vision too?!" Darcy asked enthusiastically and Percy rolled her eyes. The man was stumbling around in a circle and scanning the terrain with a confused look on his face.

"Hammer... Hammer!" He yelled, the two women looked at each other in shock and confusion.

"Yeah, we can tell you're hammered." Darcy responded, figuring him to be drunk. Percy was more worried that he might have a concussion, she picked up the first aid kit Selvig had left on the ground and noticed something strange.

"Dr. Selvig..." A faint, discernible pattern is etched into the sand. She presses a button on her bracelet. "I've recorded the patterns for you, but you'll have to act quickly if you want soil samples. The hospital's over an hour away, so I can take him in my car."

"Father! Heimdall! I know you can hear me! Open the Bifrost!" He yelled at the sky before pointing at Selvig, "You! What world is this? Alfheim? Nornheim?"

"Puente Antiguo, New Mexico." Percy said slowly, raising her hands up as a submissive and nonthreatening gesture and slowly took a few steps closer to him. "Sir, I can help you. I just need you to calm down."

Darcy, on the other hand, had taken an aggressive approach. A small red dot could be seen on the man's gray shirt as she aimed the taser at him.

"You dare threaten Thor with so puny -" She pulled the trigger, the 6'3" man was now writhing in pain on the ground from the electric shock before passing out.

"What? He was freaking me out."

"I'll go get my car." She eyed the large muscular man and then Darcy's discharged taser. "Mind if I take that? Just in case he wakes up?"

"Do you want this or mace?" From her bag she pulled out a hot pink bottle with a cation logo on the side and shook it to signify its full contents. Percy gave her a surprised look, god help any boy who tried to pressure Darcy into anything.

"Mace, please." After pocketing the weapon she removed her bracelet and handed it to Selvig. "The photos and recordings I took on the event are on this, it opens up as a flashdrive. I think there's a 24 hour Walmart you could develop them at if you're in a crunch."

In the distance she could see her faded blue buggy parked to the side of the road where she had left it and did a half-jog to close the distance. Getting in the driver's seat she carefully backed up the car so that Thor was next to the passenger's side. It took the effort of all three of them to lift the tree of a man into the seat, after he was shoved in his head quickly dropped downward and hit the dashboard with an audible thump. Percy cringed at the sound and prayed to god he would survive the trip.

"You know, the way he talks is _super_ weird." Darcy whispered to Percy and nudged her in the rib.

"Don't."

"Come on! I wouldn't mind taking a slice of that, and he didn't _sayyyy_ anything to you... not yet."

"Stop it, Darcy." She said more seriously and climbed into the drivers seat, slamming the car door in a bit of frustration. The drive to the hospital was silent, she didn't have the heart to turn on the radio like usual, and definitely didn't want to risk waking up her passenger. Her eyes left the road and looked at Thor, who was jostling with every small bump in the car, his heavy head swaying uncontrollably.

"Don't be ridiculous..." Percy muttered to herself, this whole thing was too weird, no way he was her soulmate. But she couldn't deny the warmth she felt in her right leg, the most sensation she had ever felt from her mark.

* * *

"Name?" The nurse at the front desk asked curtly.

"Th-" _If I say Thor, they'll lock me up here as well..._ "eodore." She quickly recovered. "Theodore Evans, he's my brother." The nurse gave her a skeptical look and glanced over all 5'3" of her underwhelming frame, black hair and brown eyes that resembled nothing like the self proclaimed god. "Adopted."

"I'm going to need your information as an emergency contact." Percy fished out her wallet and handed the older woman a business card with her name and number. After reading the card the nurse looked back at the young woman with a raised eyebrow, and quickly focused her attention to her right eye. "I'm going to need you to cover... _that_ , for patient confidentiality."

"Oh, I'm not recording anything."

"Still, you could."

"So can anyone with a cellph-"

"HOW DARE YOU ATTACK THE SON OF ODIN!" Loud crashing sounds came from the next room and nearly a dozen nurses and two security guards swarmed to the scene. Percy and the nurse at the front desk shared a look and both of them rushed over to see what the fuss was all about. They rounded the corner and through the glass window witnessed as Thor fought against the medical staff, knocking some of them out cold until he was finally sedated.

The nurse turned to Percy with crossed arms, obviously fuming from the destruction.

"I'll, uh... just put on my eyepatch now. Sorry for the trouble." She pulled out the white piece of cloth from her pocket and looped the straps behind her ears, half smiling at the nurse as a peace offering.

Percy was escorted to the waiting area and stared at the late night television broadcast, not very interested in the news. She wasn't cut out for this sort of excitement, and felt like she was on the verge of a panic attack with everything that was going on. What if the guy had actually just been drunk? What if he wanted to press charges against her? So much had happened in one night and she still had to oversee the weapons testing tomorrow morning.

She closed her eyes and started to take deep breaths, inhaling through her nose and exhaling through her mouth. She forced her short fingernails into the skin of her palm, focusing on the feeling, isolating her thoughts. She opened her eyes again, looking to her left at the generic flower paintings it seemed every hospital had and the pile of magazines from a couple months ago piled on the nearby coffee table.

"Ms. Evans?" A male nurse called her name and ushered her to follow him.

"How is he?"

"He's sedated right now, and very well... secured." Thor was the only patient in the room, his arms and legs were tied down with restraints. "From the way he threw around our staff I'm pretty sure he doesn't have any major injuries, despite in the head that is."

"Is it alright if I wait here until he wakes up?" She gestured to the chair next to Thor's bed and the nurse shrugged.

"Might be a while."

 _Great._

Just then, her cellphone started to ring and the nurse took that as his sign to leave. Fumbling for her back pocket, the caller ID read _Darcy_ , the two of them had exchanged numbers only earlier that day. Percy stepped away from Thor as much as she could, still worried about waking him up and picked up the call.

"Hello?"

"Persephone, you won't believe what we found in your footage!" It was Selvig, and he certainly sounded ecstatic.

"That dude _literally_ like, fell from the sky!" Darcy screamed from the background, confusing Percy before Selvig cut back in.

"He was in the middle of the anomaly, and beyond that the constellations in your video are unrecognizable! It's almost as if they aren't ours!"

"What do you mean?"

"We could be looking at an honest to god black hole here! And that man could be the closest thing we have to evidence." She looked over her shoulder at the sleeping man. They saw him fall from the sky, with her own footage? It didn't seem possible... yet she must have seen it herself. If this man was the key to explaining Selvig's studies, she didn't want to let him go before the astrophysicist got to ask him a few questions. And for the sake of her own curiosity as well, she felt like she couldn't leave him alone.

"I'll let you know when he wakes up, I guess." Selvig expressed his thanks and droned on about how the soil samples would be tested by the end of the week and praised her for all of the footage she took.

It was definitely a good feeling, being helpful that is. She checked the time on her phone, _10:13._ All the adrenaline she had produced from all the excitement had started to wear off, she slumped down into the hard plastic chair next to Thor's bedside. She could do this. Stay up until he was awake, get him discharged by morning, quick change from her rental apartment and drive straight to the testing site for work... it was only about an hour drive away.

 _Gambling with your pitiful life and this is the best weapon you could procure? Truly pathetic._

Her mind automatically went to the mace in her pocket, stroking it with her hand to make sure it was still there. Was she crazy? She wasn't going to pull mace on him! Darcy had just gotten into her head a little bit with false hope, once he woke up and said literally any other sentence, she would be fine. But she couldn't help but wonder... hesitantly, she grasped his large hand with her two smaller ones and bent down to whisper in his ear.

"If it is you... I already love you, and I'll never leave your side no matter what."

* * *

 **Meanwhile on Asgard**

"Stop!" Odin's voice echoed throughout the treasure room, Loki kept his back toward him. He stared at his own hands in disbelief as he held the casket.

"Am I cursed?"

"No."

"What am I?"

"You are my son."

"What more than that." Loki released the casket and turned around, the blue skin that shocked him bleeding away into his familiar pale hue. "The casket wasn't the only thing you took from Jotunheim that day, was it?"

Odin hesitated, leaning on his staff a bit more for support of his emotional burden.

"No. In the aftermath of the battle, I went into the temple and found a baby - small for a giant's offspring, suffering and left to die. Laufey's son."

"Laufey's son..." He desperately struggles to make sense of it all, shaking his head in disbelief. "But... Frost Giants don't have soulmates!"

"None that do live to tell." It felt like another slap to the face, not only was he Jotun... but he was a runt. An incomplete runt who was set on a freezing wasteland to die, unwanted, worthless. No doubt Odin had used his mark to add to the lie of him being Asgardian.

"Why? Why would you take me?"

"You were an innocent child."

"No, you took me for a purpose, what was it?" Odin doesn't answer.

"Tell me!"

"I thought we could unite our kingdoms one day, though you. Bring about an alliance, a permanent peace... perhaps even reach beyond our two realms with your bonded. But those plans no longer matter."

Those plans no longer mattered... because of Thor. That oaf that had barged into Jotunheim and disrupted the peace treaty between the two realms had unknowingly taken the sole purpose of Loki's life and smashed it without hesitation. He had taken away the only use Odin had for a Frost Giant son.

How typical of his _brother._

"So I am no more than another stolen relic, locked up here until you might have use of me."

"Why do you twist my words?"

"You know, it all makes sense now. Why you favored Thor all these years. Because no matter how much you claim to 'love' me, you could never have a Frost Giant, the monster parents use to scare their children at night, on the throne of Asgard with his mortal wife!"

"Loki -" The emotional and physical burden from the recent battles finally took its toll on Odin. No longer able to stand, his form crumbled beneath Loki's feet, his hand reaching out to hold his youngest son who had withdrawn. It was only as he fell into the Odinsleep that Loki recognized the severity of his conditions and called for the guards, who came rushing in at once to aid the Allfather.

As quickly as they entered the guards left with the Allfather, no doubt to his own chambers to recover his strength, leaving Loki alone once more in the dungeon. He looked to the casket once more, feeling a sense of shame weigh heavy on his heart. If _she_ were to ever find out the truth of who he was, or rather _what_ , she would surely never love him.

As far as he was concerned, Frost Giant's did not have souls.


	3. An Almost Pleasant Breakfast

**CHAPTER 3**

Thor slowly opened his eyes, squinting and blinking away the bright florescent lights above him. His entire body ached and felt heavy as stone, a sensation that he was only familiar with on the most fearsome of battlefields. It astounded him how weak his new mortal form was, he would have to regain his energy before picking another battle. He attempted to lift his arms only to discover his wrists and ankles bound in leather straps to the metal frame of the bed.

It was humiliating, not only had these beings bested him twice with their weaponry but now they stood to imprison him here, wherever he was. He jerked his head backward to flip back the hair that had landed in front of his eyes and looked around to make sense of his surroundings. It was then that he finally noticed the small figure that sat by his bedside.

Her arms were crossed over her chest that slowly rose up and down with each even breath she took, and her curly dark hair cascaded down to partially covered her face. Her head leaned forward in a slack position, one eye closed and the other concealed by a white eyepatch. Thor strained his neck forward to look at her face and recognized her as the woman who had been leaning over him when he landed from the Bifrost.

A warm feeling rushed through him as he looked at her face, she was a stranger yet a part of him felt a familiarity. From what he recalled, she was not wearing the eyepatch before. Had he unknowingly harmed her?

He gathered all of his remaining strength into his left arm, tugging at the leather band. It didn't budge. He took a deep breath and concentrated his strength once more, all but heaving his body to the side until his arm finally broke free and the band snapped in half. Unfortunately, the sound had been enough to wake the young woman, whose head jerked up almost painfully fast and looked at him in surprise.

"You're up!" She seemed relieved for a moment, before she noticed how he had torn his arm free of the restraint. In a matter of seconds her caring demeanor turned to that of panicked rage. "Hey, will you quit messing with the hospital equipment? You broke enough last night."

"The barbarians attacked me, what would you have me do, woman?" He curtly replied and proceeded to use his free arm to undo the latch that was holding his second one down. If he had been looking at her, he would have seen the crestfallen look on her face at the realization that his words had not even resembled those on her leg.

She felt like an idiot for being disappointed, was she really at that point in her life when she was hoping that this lunatic was actually her other half? Her small heartache was quickly turned into annoyance when he had called _woman_ in such a demeaning tone, whoever this mystery man was, he sure was rude.

"Okay..." She said almost condescendingly as she watch him free his own ankles from the hospital bed. "We're just trying to help you, you could've been seriously hurt."

"They should have given me a healing stone and been done with it!" He shot back and once freed all but jumped out of the bed and made his way towards the exit, not even giving her a second look as he stormed off. Percy shot out of the chair and gathered her things, quickly catching up behind him.

"Where are you gonna go, genius?"

"Away from here, I will find Mjolnir and travel through the Bifrost back to Asgard."

"The Bifrost..." Of all the words he had just said, that was the only one that felt the most comfortable on her tongue, her tone was laced with skepticism and confusion. "Is that how you ended up in the middle of the desert?"

"You ask many questions." Somehow the two of them were able to make it all the way to the hospital lobby without being noticed or stopped, there were no receptionists or other employees in sight and only the low hum of the lights overhead offered any noise beyond their bickering.

"Well it would help a very nice man if you gave him some answers!" He looked down at her and scoffed, he had better things to do than entertain mortals. "Hey!" She shouted and ran to catch up with his staggering form again and slapped him very sharply on the arm. It had felt like the equivalent of punching a rock, the back of her hand stinging and turning a bright pink from the contact of his massive bicep, and although it was not enough to hurt him, he did give pause.

He stopped walking and turned around slowly to face her. Tilting her head up she jutted her bottom lip out in a half pout half scowl and narrowed her glare in a serious manner. Thor look a step closer to her, intimidating the small woman with his form but she only straightened her shoulders and stood up even straighter, not backing down. He almost admired her ferocity.

"A few hours, tops." He raised an eyebrow and looked at her more closely. Her cheeks were flushed and her hands were slightly shaking, very far from the signs of any sort of warrior. Yet despite those shortcomings it was hard to deny the determination in her eye, with her very stare he felt like a child being scolded by their mother, it was hard to resist. His serious expression melted away to a charming smile as he took one of his large hands and slightly ruffled her unkempt hair.

"Very well, little one."

Thor took a step to the side of the door and motioned for her to lead the way. Percy took a moment to straighten herself out, not really expecting for him to give in so easily. She plastered on a determined face and led both of them to the parking lot, pressing the button on her set of keys that briefly lit up the headlights and gave off a short blimping noise as the doors unlocked. She looked over her shoulder to see that he was actually following her while taking in the strange scenery around him.

"So, what's your name?" Percy asked as she opened the passenger side door for him. He seemed confused by the automobile but turned his attention back to her at the question, his head dipping in a very shallow bow.

"I am Thor, son of Odin." Her lips formed into a thin line, unsure of what to make of his answer. He had said that his name was Thor, but she had half wondered if it was a drunken spell at the time that skewed the truth. But the way he held himself was so undeniably regal that there was almost an air of authenticity to the proclamation. She extended her right hand out to him rather stiffly.

"Persephone Evans." Thor took her hand into his, but instead of shaking it as she had intended, knelt down and pressed his lips to her knuckles. She bit the inner part of her lip to keep in her shock and quickly drew her hand away, muttering for him to take a seat as she circled around to the drivers side, throwing a backpack into the backseat before starting the car.

The rest of the drive continued in silence, Thor's head was continuously scanning their new surroundings as they drove through the town to her rental apartment. Carefully pulling into the driveway Percy checked the time on the dashboard, 5:32 AM. In just a few minutes it would already be dawn.

Her eyes felt heavy and she inwardly cringed at the realization of just how long of a work day it was going to be working out in the blisteringly hot New Mexico midday sun. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath as she turned off the buggy, she would get through this, just like in college. All she had to do was take it a little bit at a time, keep her head focused on the task at hand. She leaned over Thor and opened up the passenger side door for him and ushered him to follow her into the building.

Once inside she emptied out her bag with the clothes from the lost and found section she had swiped from the hospital, she had no idea what she he was so she had just grabbed the largest that they had. He was inspecting things around the living room with a unique curiosity, picking up the television remote from the coffee table and turning it over in his hands.

"Here, put these on." She all but threw the pile at his and he scrambled to catch it, but thanked her nonetheless.

Percy retreated into the side bedroom as Thor began to remove the hospital gown and began to get dressed for the day herself. She changed into her usual outfit of beige khakis and a short sleeve button down shirt and headed into the bathroom, frowning at the state of her hair. Most of her curls had deformed and lost volume, leaving her with a stringy, limp rats nest for a head. She removed her eyepatch once again and grabbed some bobby pins and hair ties from her toiletry bag and began to section off three parts to her hair to create three ponytails. After a few minutes of correct positioning, pinning, and teasing she had an almost passable messy bun.

Because she was in a rush she kept her makeup extremely simple, applying a light SPF 30 foundation, filling in her sparse eyebrows with a cheap pencil, and finally applying a nude lipstick.

It was then that her stomach chose to make the loudest growling noise that she had ever heard.

Percy fished her cell phone out of her sweatpants from last night and checked the time once again, if she was quick about it she could make a quick breakfast and brew some coffee in her french press to give her a morning kick. She pulled up Darcy's contact and sent her a quick text with her address and a plea to come pick up the big lug asap, she wasn't going to risk her job to babysit.

The moment she left her room she was greeted to the sight of a shirtless Thor, who was gazing out the window at the developing sunrise. Percy felt herself blush, if it was from fear or attraction she couldn't tell. Even though it was definitely pleasant to see an attractive half naked man standing in her living room, it was not lost on her that he could probably kill her just by slapping her across the face. He noticed her presence and took a moment to slip on the long sleeve shirt she had given him, but it was obviously too small.

"Blue sky, one sun... is this Earth?"

"As far as I know, yup." All she could think about in the moment was food, and nothing Thor said would phase her now. "You hungry?"

"Famished." She opens the fridge, greeted with the bare essentials she bought for the week, removing the dozen eggs and package of bacon. Setting them down on the counter she heads to the stove top, and begins to preheat the largest pan she has and simultaneously brings a kettle to a boil. Looking back at Thor, she is immediately reminiscent about Gaston from Beauty and the Beast and the hunter's veracious appetite and decides to fry up 12 strips of the bacon, carefully resealing the package after placing each piece into the sizzling pan. Thor watches as she fetches the coffee grounds from the bottom row of the scarce cupboard and places three heaping scoops into the fresh press.

Percy flipped the bacon over to the other side, grabbing a paper towel to soak up the extra fat when it jumped out of the pan to slightly burn her. As the kettle whistles she pulls it off the heat and drowns the coffee grounds in the boiling water and leaves it to set. She then aligns the strips of bacon into groups of two she cracks an egg on top of each pair, bohemian style eggs were her perfect go-to fast breakfast. She lowers the heat and places the lid on top of the pan to allow the eggs to set, turning around she nearly jumps at the sight of Thor staring at her intently, as if he's deep in thought.

He had not noticed before, but now in the newfound light it was clear to him that the young woman's eye was non organic. While the majority of it was a pale off white that gleamed like glass, the iris itself was a flat gray, continuously churning and rotating within the sphere, as if it it were thinking. He was impressed with how far Midgardian technology had improved over the past couple thousand years, but it was painfully obvious how underdeveloped they were in comparison to other worlds.

"You can sit down at the table, it's almost done."

A minute later, the two of them were silently devouring their respective meals. Percy had given herself two slices and an egg and given Thor the rest in an attempt to satisfy his enormous appetite, but the way he was scarfing it all down she couldn't even tell if he was getting full. Percy popped her last bit of bacon in her mouth when she heard a knock at the door, doing a quick run to open it and let in Darcy and Selvig, the latter started to spread out pictures of last night across the floor and coffee table. He handed Percy back the bracelet she had given him last night, once again thanking her for the footage.

Percy left the three of them alone, going back into her room to grab her handbag for work and slipped into a pair of oxfords. When she returned, Selvig was questioning Thor while showing him a picture that clearly showed the larger man's silhouette falling from the sky.

"Care to explain what you were doing in the middle of this?"

"What else would one do in the Bifrost?" Thor replied while still chewing on his eggs, his tone implying that his answer was obvious all the while Selvig seemed to grow more agitated. Thor then took a large gulp of the coffee she had poured for him to drown out all of the food he had shoved in his mouth, his expression changing to that of appreciation.

"This drink... I like it." Darcy had been rather silent since she arrived, for once, all but drooling over Thor as she had watched him eat. She nodded her head up in down in agreement with his proclamation.

"I know, it's great-"

"Another!" He yelled just before slamming Percy's ceramic mug onto the floor tile, causing all three of them to jump.

"What are you doing?!" Percy screeched, her right hand clutching right over her pounding heart.

"It was delicious, I wanted more." He calmly replied.

"Well, then just ask politely! No need to smash my stuff!"

"I meant no disrespect."

Just then Percy's phone started to ring from her pocket, the tone being the bland ringing that was automatically assigned when she bought the damn thing. She didn't recognize the number, but it was definitely a New Mexico area code. She greeted the caller with a timid hello.

"Miss Evans?"

"Speaking."

"Hi, glad I caught you. This is Joshua from the New Mexico branch of Herria Military." Hearing the name of the company made Percy take a short breath, immediately making her way to the front door while taking out her car keys.

"Oh, hi Joshua. I was _just_ on my way to the site, I'll be there in about 20 minutes."

"Actually, I'm calling to tell you that the testing has been delayed until further notice. We'll need you to be on call for the next couple of days until we can secure another area if the current... situation doesn't get resolved."

"I'm sorry..." Her voice quickly became much firmer than before and a fake smile formed on her face that was laced with malice. "But I flew all the way out here for a five day testing period. I was told that the permits were all in place from the legal department."

"They were, but the legal team didn't really expect a _satellite_ _to land_ in the area." The man on the other side of the line replied, equally as snarky.

"A satellite... like, something from space?" She could hear him laughing on the other side of the line.

"Yeah, one of those. We're trying everything in our power to remedy the situation, but our team will need you to stay in town until further notice. You will of course, be compensated for your time." A pleasant goodbye was exchanged before Percy hung up, turning back around to reenter the apartment only to be blocked by the towering Thor.

"Where." It was more of a command than a question, but either way she wasn't sure how to answer. "This object you have spoken of." He elaborated.

"Um, I guess about... twelve miles east?" She scratched her head in uncertainty. He all but pushed passed her out the door, taking long strides and glaring up at the sun to gather a sense of direction. "Hey, where are you going?"

"Twelve miles east."

"Why would you care about a satellite?"

"It is not what they say it is. What it is, is mine."

"And how are you planning to get there?" This gave Thor pause. If he were at his usual strength the distance would be no issue, but it was obvious that he had greatly underestimated the strength of his weakened form and was uncertain if it would be able to reach that far without consequence. He looked to the blue buggy, the strange mode of transportation the mortals had developed and was immediately inspired. He turned back to Percy, who had been hot on his heels.

"If you take me there I will tell you everything your companions wish to know, Lady Persephone."

"Persephone, don't listen to him." Selvig called, exiting the apartment as well. "Everything he's saying, about Bifrosts and Odin... they're all just myths you read as a kid!" She looked in between the two men, her logic telling her that Selvig was right, and that Thor had been making it all up from the start... but something else in her wanted to believe in the blond man, who quite obviously seemed to believe everything he was saying. She motioned for Thor to get into the car before turning to Selvig.

"We've strung him along this far, might as well try going all the way." Despite the protests from Selvig she climbed into the drivers seat of the car and turned onto the empty road ahead of them, following the route she had originally planned to take for work. She glanced over at Thor, who was staring straight ahead and seemed very pleased with himself.

"So, what kind of answers could you give Selvig to help with his research?"

"When I retrieve Mjolnir, all shall be revealed."

"Ok... still cryptic."

"You think me strange."

"You're definitely unique, buddy."

"I think you are as well, is it common for mortals to have metal eyes in this era?"

"No." Percy paused, the question making her slightly uncomfortable. She couldn't even tell if his question was innocent or sarcastic, or if he even knew _how_ to be sarcastic. She was used to people looking at her, noticing her eye and then quickly and purposefully turning away, making a point not to stare. Those who did stare usually looked confused or gave her a pitying look, but with Thor, it felt like he was genuinely curious. "Does it bother you?"

"I have seen far stranger things across the realms than you, my lady." She chuckled at that, letting a genuine smile through that Thor found enchanting on her.

"Do you say that to all the girls?"

"Not to all, sometimes it is untrue." She slightly shook her head back and forth, denying the feeling that he was half flirting with her and Thor himself let out a very hearty laugh. "What they seek is a bridge. A rainbow bridge."

"Yeah?" Percy scoffed, her mind immediately going to Mario Kart. She was about to ask him to elaborate, but then spotted artificial lighting in the valley approaching on their right. Slowing the car down, she inched forward even closer to the source.

A massive base made of clear, plastic access tubes with a large cubical structure was built on top of the sight of a large crater. A wire fence surrounded the structure and armed guards were stationed at every entrance, in the distance a few cars and trailers left in the opposite direction of the road and Percy couldn't help but shake the feeling she had seen vehicles like that before.

Reaching over to the passenger's side she opened up the glove compartment and took out a pair of binoculars that she stashed away ages ago under the excuse that one day she would pick up bird-watching and handed them to Thor. She, in turn, covered her human eye with one hand and with the other manuvered the zoom capabilities of her eye with her bracelet to scope out the facility.

"You're saying... that your _thing_ is in there?" She said quite skeptically, feeling she already knew the answer.

"Wait here." He ordered and reaches for the door handle, but before he can pull it open Percy hits the locking mechanism from her own door to stop him.

"There's no way you're going down there, listen to me Thor... this is the _government_ , seriously powerful people, and they're not going to let you just walk in there and steal!"

"It is not theft if it belongs to me. Now, will you allow me to leave or must I break my way out?"

* * *

 **A/N:** **Thank you all for being patient! The first Thor movie is taking a bit longer to write than I thought, hopefully more will be updated soon.**

 **Please review and let me know if you're enjoying it so far!**


	4. A Close Encounter

**CHAPTER 4**

 **Three years ago...**

"Congratulations on graduating." Percy turned around with a bright smile on her face, diploma in one hand and graduation cap in the other to see Klaus Warren standing behind her, dressed in the same blue robe that she was, holding his own much deserved degree. It almost seemed like pure luck that he had finished his Ph.D. in neurobiology at the same time that she had completed her requirements for her Masters for Electromechanical Engineering.

"Congrats to you too, _Doctor._ "

"I am still amazed we completed a, erm, what is that word? Dissertation? So very near the end." His thick German accent was present in the way he spoke.

"Yeah well, let's hope it was all worth it." She replied with a nervous chuckle. "Did your family come?"

"Nein, I will have great celebration when I return home, today is for taking a time for relaxation."

"Well if you want to _relax_ at dinner, you can join my sister and me."

"I do not wish to intrude."

"I invited you, we should really, properly, celebrate. You have _no_ idea how happy it makes me to be able to say that I made an awesome robot eye."

"Ah yes, you made. I only invent neuron patterns necessary, but _you_ made." He joked, earning a light slap on the arm.

"There is she." Amongst the crowd of middle aged moms and pint sized little kids all grouped together in family units Percy spotted the waving hands of her little sister Cora, who started dodging the sidewalk photo-ops to join the two of them. There was no question that she inherited all the looks from their parents, her rich dark hair was longer now and nearly reached her waist, her red lipstick really complimented her perfectly white as she smiled. Percy tried not to be bitter that she herself hadn't won on the genetics lotto and instead felt pride swell up at her gorgeously sweet little sibling.

"She is very beautiful." Klaus gawked.

"She's eighteen." Percy quickly shot back, giving the man who was a few years her elder a dark look. Klaus held his hands up defensively, slightly backing away. As Cora got closer, Percy jogged over to meet her halfway and the two hugged each other quite strongly, giving each other air kisses as a part of an inside joke they had when they were children. Percy took her hand and led her back to where Klaus was standing, giving a small wave to the younger woman.

"Cora this is Dr. Klaus Warren, the man who helped me become a cyborg."

"Wow, you're a lot cuter than Percy described!" Cora beamed as she shook the man's hand, earning a playful smack on the arm from her older sister who could see how uncomfortable Klaus suddenly became at the remark. No matter how protective she could be over her baby sister, Percy could never control her flirtatious attitude or provocative fashion choices, every part of Cora screamed for other people's attention. But she knew there was a heart of gold underneath the lacy red bralette that was clearly visible through her lacy white shirt.

"I am happy _mein seenlenfreundin_ thinks I am attractive." He nervously smiled, finally regaining his composure, but what he said made both sisters go wide eyed.

Cora's eyes immediately brightened, an almost inhuman squealing sound of pure joy came from her mouth as she let go of the older man's hand in order to embrace him, ecstatically bouncing up and down. Percy stared at them in a stunned silence, she had known Cora her whole life and Klaus had become her best and only friend over the past four years, she had never seen either of them as happy as they were right now, both of them on the verge of tears.

So why did it feel like her heart had been ripped right out of her chest?

"Excuse me, Miss Evans?" Her attention was drawn away from the couple by a middle aged man wearing a very nicely tailored suit that she had never seen before, he held up his hand towards her and she hesitantly shook it. "Sorry to interrupt, my name is Agent Coulson. May I speak to you privately for a moment?" She glanced back at the two, who were oblivious to the world and nodded her head, Coulson leading her over to a more secluded area. "I represent the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"Sorry, never heard of it."

"If we've been doing our job correctly, the general public wouldn't be aware of us. I would like to talk to you about a future employment opportunity with your recent graduation."

"You said you were an agent, right? I'm sorry, I've already been approached by the CIA and some very prestigious news outlets and I'm not interested in doing undercover camera work."

"Right to the point, I like that." A stern but genuine smile cross his face. "It's reasonable to not want to be a spy, it's a dangerous profession and I wouldn't be approaching you if I didn't think you were capable. But if that career path isn't for you, our division is always looking for engineers."

"I'm not sure if I want to be involved with the government..."

"So instead you'll waste your talent designing makeup stalls for suburban moms?" Percy felt her blood run cold. Just last week she had been hired to lead a project that would design and test a retail makeup sample kiosk, a job that she would be starting within the next few days.

"How did you know..."

"Your designs for your bionic eye are patented, from what I believe. That technology would be very helpful in my field of work, potentially even life saving." He completely ignored her question, and Percy had to try and stop herself from just shaking in her shoes, feeling extremely threatened.

"I'm... not prepared to make that decision right now. The use of a mechanical eye to restore sight is on track to be commercially available following the pending approval from the FDA. The video and photographic capture capabilities will not be available to the public."

"So just yourself then?"

"I have to go. It was... nice meeting you, Agent Coulson." Just as she turned to leave, he started to reach for his jacket pocket. Percy paused, her heart beating a mile a minute, fearing the worst. She could feel almost all the tension in her body leave as he pulled out a business card and handed it to her.

"In case you change your mind."

* * *

 **Present Day**

Percy still couldn't believe that she was doing this. She still couldn't believe they had _let her in_ to the facility just by asking for Agent Coulson with the card, and counted herself extremely lucky that she never bothered to clear out the contents of her wallet. An agent led her to one of the surveillance rooms and told her to wait, she could clearly see Coulson interrogating Thor through what she assumed to be a two way mirror. She watched as Coulson pulled a phone from his pocket and read the message in mild confusion before exiting the interrogation room, his eyes immediately landing on her.

"Persephone Evans, this is a surprise." The two of them shook hands.

"Agent Coulson, right? Sorry, it's been a few years. How is the erm - Strategic Homeland Defense Division?"

"We go by S.H.I.E.L.D. now, less of a mouthful. I understand you're working for Herria Military, have second thoughts about government employment?"

"They pay me well, that is when my work isn't compromised by a giant circus tent." He laughed dryly, hands clasped together in front of him.

"Is that the reason you came here? We'll be out of your hair in a week if all goes smoothly."

"Actually, I'm here for him." Percy motioned over to Thor, confused that he was no longer alone in the room even though she hadn't seen anybody else enter. A tall, slender man wearing a black suit and luxuriously patterned scarf looked down at Thor in the chair, who seemed to be hanging onto every word he said.

"You know him?" Her attention was pulled away by Coulson, who now was leaning against a desk with arms crossed.

"Vaguely, used to work for Herria until an accident gave him retrograde amnesia. I was shocked to find him out here, but he recognizes and trusts me." For once in her life, the years she poured into acting and creative writing were actually useful. She had just spent nearly an hour in her car fabricating and rehearsing a makeshift story until she entered the facility, but it was her performance now that mattered. "It's a sad story really, I just want to help the guy out."

"He tore through our security like string cheese."

"Wouldn't be surprised, his work was top secret... if I had to guess he was probably extra muscle for transporting some of our more sensitive weapons." Coulson's face didn't give anything away, she decided to play an empathy card. "Look, he's lost and confused and obviously in a rough place... I'll keep a good eye on him and he won't be a problem again."

"Let's see if he recognizes you, then." He motions her to go first, he punches a security code into the door allowing it to slide open. When it did, the man in black was still standing there, speaking to Thor.

"Farewell, brother." His voice was like silk, the sound of it nestling into ever crevice of her soul. She couldn't help but stare, jumping slightly as his slender frame turned to her, his blue eyes making direct contact with her. She couldn't see his face clearly in the other room, but now that they were so close, it wasn't hard to tell that this was possibly the most handsome man she had ever seen in her life. His jet black hair was slicked back behind his ears, pointed nose almost turned up at the sight of her there, thin lips on the verge of forming a scowl. Everything about him screamed opulence.

Loki inwardly scoffed at the young woman, what was she doing staring at an empty wall with sure awe and curiosity? It was almost as if she was looking right at him, but he had made it so his projection was only visible to Thor, not any Midgardian. He stepped to the side, his projection was directly in her path and he didn't like the idea of her walking through one of his illusions. To his utter astonishment, her eyes followed his movement. His brows furrowed in confusion, his head involuntarily tilting to the side as he stared down at her.

"Goodbye." Thor mutters, causing Percy to break her gaze with the man for a moment. When she turned back around, he had vanished without a trace, almost like magic.

"Goodbye? I just got back." Agent Coulson half joked. Percy turned to Coulson, confused. Did he not hear or see the man who had been standing a few feet away from them? "Do you know this woman?" Thor lifted his head to meet her gaze, but for a second it was Percy who didn't recognize _him_. He looked so broken and empty, but as he understood that she had come to his aid, a small glimmer of hope shined in his eyes.

"Yes, Lady Persephone is my companion." She smiled at that, it was almost the nicest thing he had said to her so far. Coulson sighed and rubbed his receding hairline in defeat.

"Keep him in town for the next few days, just in case we need to talk to him again." She nods in agreement and reaches her right hand out for Thor to take.

"Come on, buddy." He hesitantly takes it and stands up from the chair, compliantly following her out She was putting up an excellent front, but Thor could feel the slight tremor in her hand and squeezed it in reassurance as they walked past the security checkpoint at the exit, finally making it to her car.

" _Thank you Lady Percy for breaking me out of the scary government building._ " She imitated in a deep throaty voice trying to get a chuckle out of her blond muscly companion. She glanced over at she buckled up the seatbelt only to see his solemn and dejected face.

"What happened, Thor?" Percy asked in a much softer tone. For as strong as he was, in this moment he looked as if one wrong word would shatter him completely.

"My father is dead." He choked out, an obvious hitch in his voice. Percy felt every muscle in her body tense, unsure of what to do. Wordlessly she placed her small hand on top of his, giving a gentle squeeze before pulling back and starting up the car. Seeing the sincerity on his face, and the entire incident with the man who disappeared into thin air, Percy finally felt as though Thor was actually telling the truth, as crazy as it was. Maybe he really wasn't of this world.

The two of them sat in a sort of understood silence as the miles stretched on until they made their way back into town.

Before they reached her apartment, Percy parked the car on the side of a street and turned to Thor.

"Wait here a few minutes, I'll be right back." He nodded in acknowledgement, watching as she ran into a brightly colored building he had noticed earlier that day. It felt as if no time passed at all until she exited again, carrying two large pink boxes and balancing some sort of beverage on top. He got out of the car to meet her halfway.

"Allow me." He said, reliving her of the items despite her weak protests that she could handle it herself. The boxes themselves were not heavy at all, and upon closer inspection there were indeed four cups of what smelled like coffee. She opened the passenger side door for him and he took care not to spill the hot liquid as she told him to be careful.

"What is within these boxes?"

"Donuts, they're a popular desert known to go well with coffee."

"I did not think you capable of eating to this capacity." He said innocently, causing a slight chuckle from the young woman. She was lucky that the store was still open and had basically cleared them out for all they had with nearly 30 of the treats in tow.

"They're for you, when my mother died I ate stuff like this for breakfast, lunch and dinner." She could feel his eyes shift to look at her, but didn't meet his gaze. It wouldn't be a good idea for either of them for her to start crying while driving a car. "I don't know anything about your genetics, but us humans combat sadness with sugar. It's not a long term solution, but if you want to... we can just scarf down all that crap and just talk until the sun comes up."

"Lady Persephone..."

"I can't imagine how you are feeling personally, but I know that's all I wanted." She pulled into the driveway of her apartment and put the car in park, this time finding the courage to look Thor in the eyes, her heart beating furiously in her chest. "Someone to talk to."

And that is exactly what they did. After setting the food on the dinner table and sitting down, Thor explained in entirety what Loki had told him and went on to recall the events that led to his banishment, his voice thick with regret when describing the last interaction he had with his father. Persephone listened quietly, rubbing his shoulder and holding his hand as she watched Thor experience humility for what seemed like the first time. But she couldn't help but ask some burning questions.

"So that man in the black coat when I came to get you, was your brother?"

"Yes, I am surprised that you could see him. He is a master of mischief and illusions."

"Might have something to do with this." She pointed to her right eye. "Maybe his _magic_ never counted on cameras."

"Why do you hide your gift?" Thor asked, mouth still full of food. He recalled in the hospital that she had hidden it away and could tell that she carried an aura of shame despite the fact he found it miraculous for Earth's current technology.

"It's not a gift, it's a science experiment. I just wanted to prove myself, that I could do something amazing if I put my mind to it... make something that's never been done before."

"And you have succeeded, I have never seen one such as you." He smiled much more brightly than before, not missing the blush that formed on her face at his compliment. "You have shown me great kindness, and I have been far less grateful than you deserve, my lady." His hand moved to grab her own which was resting on her lap and began to lean down, the distance between them decreasing rapidly until their faces were inches apart.

"What are you doing?" She asked, panicked. She whipped her head backwards immediately, causing Thor to stop his movements. He automatically let go of her hand and leaned backwards in the chair.

"My apologies! Perhaps I read this wrong?"

"Um... uh... yeah, maybe..." She started sputtering like an idiot, all sensible thought leaving her. "I mean, does that usually work for you? The big, muscly, charming, blond teddy bear thing?" He seemed to think for a moment before nodding his head.

"Most of the time, yes." She laughed and held out the last donut box to him, which had a single strawberry glaze with sprinkles left inside. He happily reached in and took the treat.

"I'll admit, I had my own selfish reason for helping you." Thor looked at her curiously, waiting for her to elaborate. "I thought you were my soulmate. I know, it sounds stupid... but I felt almost like I was drawn to you, like we were meant to meet."

"I see," He pondered, taking a large bite of the donut. Knowing that she was meant for someone else made more sense as to why she resisted his advances. "Soulmates are not as common on Asgard as they are amongst your people, alas I do not have a mark."

"Honestly, I don't know if there's a woman in this universe that can put up with you."

"You have done well, so far. How you were able to use your wit to free me from that cell, it reminds me of my brother." He smiled fondly, all he had now of his brother would be memories. "Perhaps the fondness I hold for you is not that of a partner, but as family."

"Urg, please. I _have_ a little sister, and I definitely don't want to _be_ one."

"You have a younger sibling?" Thor asked in surprise, Percy nodded wistfully.

"She's a bit of a handful, but I'll always love her."

"Has she ever tried to stab you, as well?"

"Huh?"

"Nevermind."


	5. Lightning and the Thunder

**CHAPTER 5**

"Tell me, Loki, how did you get the Jotuns into Asgard?" Heimdall addressed the newly crowned king as he traversed across the Bifrost, the fresh disappearance of Sif and the Warriors Three leading him to the one route they could have taken leave.

"You think the Bifrost is the only way in and out of the Realm? There are secret paths between worlds to which even you with all your gifts are blind." Loki had spent hundreds years of study and scouting, seeking such hidden alcoves and leaving no chasm unchecked in the entire realm, and finally it had worked within his favor. He had always done so secretly, ensuring that he was never followed and that Heimdall's gaze never fell upon him during such endeavors. Traveling to different realms without need of the Bifrost had become an easy feat after his hundreds, if not thousands, of excursions.

"All this, because the Allfather forbid you from Midgard. And yet with all such hidden paths, you came no closer to finding your soulmate."

"I am in need of hidden passages no longer, now that I am King."

"If she could see now as I do, do you think she would be pleased?"

Heimdall could still recall Loki as a young boy, begging the Gatekeeper to look upon his soulmate, but she was never there. For a thousand years Loki asked the same question, but eventually grew disheartened and had stopped pursuing the line of question. When Persephone Evans was born, Loki, now a young man had come back to the Gatekeeper for the first time in hundreds of years demanding to know if he could see her, and he knew it was no coincidence. However faint their connection may have been, separated by entire worlds, Loki could finally feel her.

And Heimdall had remained silent, under the orders of the King.

"Enough!" Loki clenched his jaw, seething with rage. "For your act of treason against your _King_ , you are relieved of your duties as Gatekeeper, and are no longer a citizen of Asgard."

"Then I need no longer obey you." In anticipation of Heimdall's attack, Loki conjured the casket from thin air, using it to freeze him solid as the blade came inches from his own neck.

* * *

Percy awoke the next morning on the couch in her living room, the coat she had given Thor yesterday draped across her as a makeshift blanket. Her eyes squinted at the television as she sat up, just then noticing Darcy with her legs kicked up on the armchair next to her and scrolling through the channels.

"What time is it?" She groaned.

"About eight." Darcy replied, finally settling on a news channel. "Betcha missed the Stark Expo last night, it was wild." The two watched the replayed footage from last night, the much anticipated opening ceremony for the Stark Expo.

She herself had been asked to attend twice, once for representing her military employer, and another time as herself to showcase her former research on her eye. The Expo in itself stood as a 'beacon to light the future' in Stark's own words, which she found pretentious. Putting all research out in what would essentially the public domain was nice in theory. But then again as soon as 3D printers became commercially available, one of the first things someone did was create a functional firearm.

"Let me guess, Stark flew in all grandiose and gave a condescending speech."

" _Grandiose_ , nice SAT word there, sleeping beauty." Percy turned around toward the kitchen area. At the table were Thor and Selvig, talking in hushed voices and drawing within a small notebook about things she was sure she wouldn't understand, or preferably might not _want_ to.

"Do I want to know how you got into my house?" Percy turned back to Darcy with a quirked eyebrow.

"Hercules let us in."

Darcy stood up and picked up a few plastic bags from the floor that Percy hadn't noticed and began to empty the contents out onto the coffee table. It was mostly junk food... Pop-tarts of various flavors, Eggo waffles, frozen Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches, but also a couple loaves of bread with peanut butter (both chunky and smooth) and jellies (strawberry, raspberry and blueberry).

"Is this your way of asking me to make breakfast?"

"I mean, most of it is pre-made... more like I want ya to _heat up_ breakfast."Percy chuckled and by force of habit turned all the packages over to read the nutritional facts and list of ingredients, knowing she wouldn't be happy with the results. Her parents never let her eat stuff like this, so she never had a craving for it.

"Let me change..."

She reappeared from her side bedroom a few minutes later wearing a loose black shirt that fell below her knees, covering her mark, and a white button-up shirt. Together, the two women began preheating ovens and popping Pop-tarts into the toaster, slapping anything and everything onto five separate plates... anticipating that Thor's hunger had never let up.

The two men promptly cleared the table of the star-maps and soil sample readings to make way for the plates, the four of them ate in silence and formed the picture of a strange rag-tag family. Unfortunately, Selvig couldn't help but feel disheartened.

"All this proof to support Dr. Foster's theory... but we'll never be able to convince the scientific community of any of it without hard evidence."

A sharp rapid knocking from the glass sliding doors behind them caused all four of them to turn around. Standing there with grinning faces were four towering strangers, three men and one woman who was waving happily. All of them dressed in heavy metal armor.

"Found you!" Volstagg, the largest man who carried a battleaxe exclaimed, Percy defensively jumped out of her seat at the intrusion.

"My friends!" Thor ran to greet them, arms open and embraced each of them with familiarity.

"My apologies, fair ladies. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three." Fandral grestured between them and moved toward Darcy, who's mouth was still open in shock. "I say, Midgardians have grown more ravishing that I remember. I am pleased to be at your service."

"My friends, I've never been happier to see anyone, but you should not have come."

"We're here to take you home." Fandral said with a chuckle.

"You know I can't, my father is dead because of me. I must remain in exile." The four of them exchanged a confused look, but it was Sif who spoke.

"Thor, your father still lives."

The five Asgardians begin to talk in hushed voices, Thor's facial expressions hardening the more he learned of what had occurred during his absence. The rest of them just stood there, almost like statues, until they noticed the violent storm in the distance, growing closer each second.

"Was someone else coming?" Darcy asked, and they all exchanged a concerned look. A dark figure fell from the storm, the sounds of explosions echoing in the distance. Thor turned to his new friends, placing a hand on Percy's shoulder.

"Lady Persephone, the three of you must leave this town and get to safety."

"Thor, you can not fight along with us." Sif objected, shield and sword already drawn. "Your mortality will lead to your death in such a battle."

"Or one of ours in efforts to protect you, my prince." Frandal added.

"You're right." Thor sighed, the Warriors Three surprised at his easy resignation. The prince they knew was never one to turn down a battle, even an unwinnable one. "I will clear the streets, no innocents will die this day."

"Let us help." Selvig offered, the two women nodding in agreement.

"We two will clear the east," He gestured to himself and Persephone, "you the west."

They all set off with their missions, Thor, Percy and Selvig pleaded with people to leave town in their cars or to simply stay off the streets while Darcy took it upon herself to start piling as many animals as she could carry into a truck.

"So... you're really an alien prince?" The two of them watched from behind a car as the Destroyer began to approach the Warrior's Three, who were positioned for battle.

"Aye." He glanced away from the Destroyer to look at her, now noticing how terrified she was at the sight of the metal behemoth that expelled fiery explosives from its chest. Several buildings from the town were already alight in flames from its destructive nature.

He placed his hand on top of her head, patting it gently to calm her. Secretly, he knew that no matter how valiently his friends fought they would not be able to defeat the metal beast.

Hogun and Fandral took off running towards the Destroyer, Volstagg staggering to get off the ground but quickly catches up to his comrades. The two smaller men grab him from either side and with all their combined strength hurled him into the air, aiming squarely for the chest of the Destroyer.

"For Asgaaard!"

The metal creature swatted Volstagg to the ground with little effort, it's face shield retreating to deliver a fiery blast when Sif leaped off a nearby rooftop and drove her spear through the body of the Destroyer. She smiled for a moment, before it began to stir beneath her. Slowly the metal pieces of the foe churned and spun fully around to release yet another attack, Sif barely dodging.

The Asgardians ran to retreat when it struck again, releasing a blast that sent them flying in all directions, smashing into the nearby storefronts and cars. A pouch that Hogun wore on his belt broke free of his grip, landing in the middle of the street.

"Run." Thor said to her, pushing her gently from their hiding place now that he saw the Destroyer set on him now that the others were scattered. "Go, now!"

Percy nodded and started to run as fast as her legs could take her, but it wasn't a moment later until a blast hit the car she and Thor were just standing behind, the ripple of the explosion knocking her down.

Her head was ringing, she slowly opened her eyes and blinked up at the sky. She was in pain, so much pain that it was almost numbing. In an instant Thor was at her side, frantic and mouthing words she couldn't quite hear, grabbing her hand and squeezing tightly. Percy's gaze shifted down to her front, horrified at the sight of a sharp piece of twisted metal sticking through the side of her body.

Her light blue shirt had been stained the color of a bright crimson, her skirt flared out and partially shredded.

"No... no..." Thor shook his head in disbelief, looking up to his friends who had managed once more to distract the Destroyer, but they would not last for long. That's when he spotted it, laying on the ground midst the battle.

Hogun's pouch.

He began to raise himself off the ground when Percy gripped his hand with all of her remaining strength, pulling him back. Her entire body was shaking, on the verge of tears.

"I don't want to die alone..." Her voice was thick with fear.

"How can I allow you to die when you are destined for more?" He forced a small chuckle to put her at ease before charging straight into the thick of the battle, dodging through the flaming wreckage before grabbing the pouch from the ground. He raced back, pouring the contents of the pouch into his hands. The fragile healing stones had been crushed in the battle, leaving only useless powder. Sifting through it all, he finally finds a single stone still intact and gently sets it on the ground.

"This is going to hurt." He warned her before gingerly lifting her off the piece of iron, disheartened by her muffled screams of pain. Laying her back on the ground, he grabbed the stone. As it began to glow he crushed it over her wound, the luminescent powder seeping into the crevices and completely healing it, leaving only a faint scar.

Thor looked over her for further injuries, relieved when he only saw faint scratches and bruises. However, he couldn't help but see the marking behind her knee for the first time, eyes squinting at the familiar penmanship.

Through the eyes of the Destroyer Loki watches the display with bemusement, hardly noticing the valiant efforts of Sif and the others to defeat the being. Unconsciously he began to trace the spot of Percy's impalement on his own abdomen. Thor would waste their only healing stone to save his new Midgardian pet? What a waste.

He ordered the Destroyer to fire a blast at the pair, the sound of it charging being just long enough for Thor to lift Percy off the ground bridal style and escape. The two joined Sif who laid injured behind a parked car.

"See you and the others to safety, there is nothing more you can do."

"No! I will die a warrior's death. Stories will be told of this day -"

"Then tell them yourself." Thor interrupted her, and Sif reluctantly nodded. He turned once more to Persephone, patting her head. "Lady Persephone, thank you. For all that you have done for me."

As Thor approached the Destroyer, which had stopped its attacks, Sif commanded Percy to follow her with the Warriors Three to retreat to safer grounds as they watch Thor approach the Destroyer.

"Brother... for whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am sorry. But these people have done nothing to you. They are innocents. Take my life, and know I will never return to Asgard." The Destroyer hesitates, observing the defenseless Thor and moves to turn away. Not a moment later it swats Thor across the road, a sickening cracking of bones is heard as he lands crumpled in a heap.

The Destroyer unleashed its final fiery blast at Thor

 _KRAKAKABOOM_

A bolt of lightening from the stormy skies struck down, blinding everyone with its bright, explosive nature. The Destroyer hurled backward from the impact, and from the smoke emerged Thor, clad in his full battle armor and wielding Mjolnir once more.

"Holy fuck." Percy whispered to herself, watching as Thor near effortlessly bashed in the faceplate of the creature and crushing it into the ground, the fire within its mechanism dying out in defeat.

Out of the wreckage and the smoke appeared Agent Coulson and several other battered S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, exiting from their vans. Coulson took a moment to assess the scene before crossing his arms with an exhausted look.

"You know _Theodore_ , I don't think you and Ms. Evans have been completely honest with me."

"Know this, son of Coul. You and I, we fight for the same cause - the protection of this realm and those beyond. From this day forward, count me as your ally." He turned back to Percy. "If no harm is to come the friends I have made here."

"After all this, I'm sure S.H.E.I.L.D. would like to fully sponsor Dr. Selvig's research." Coulson shook his head in resignation, he had seen a few things in his day, but he wasn't sure he had been prepared for this much. Thor placed a hand on Percy's shoulder, bending down slightly to look her in the eye. His expression was serious, almost deadly so.

"Lady Persephone, I believe I know of your soulmate. Whatever fate lies before me now, let part of it destine I bring him before you, and may he be even half of your worth."

She didn't know how to respond to that, not even sure if she had heard him correctly. Yet, she couldn't help but feel her eyes start to water while looking at Thor, a feeling in her gut saying that she might never see him again. The bizzare alien-prince-friend she had only known for a few days.

He and his comrades gathered together on the side of the street, Thor raising his hammer triumphantly before shouting to the skies.

"Heimdall! The Bifrost!" A bright explosion of rainbow light rained down from the sky, carrying the Asgardians back home, Percy and S.H.I.E.L.D. looked on amazed. As the light faded upward, Percy looked to the sky but could feel that Coulson had stepped to her side.

"Am I under arrest?"

"Depends on how well you can keep a secret, and consider a new career path."

"I'm not cut out to be a spy-"

"Ever have any interest in Stark Industries?" That... she had not been expecting.

"The industry, sure. Stark? Not so much."

"Stark should have a... change of heart very shortly." Coulson seemed to be very proud with his choice of words, leaving Percy confused. "And I'm sure the new CEO would appreciate some women engineers to be added to the ranks."

"Let me guess, you have spies working there."

"I can neither confirm or deny that. Consider applying, I'm sure I can put a word in for you."

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry this took so long! I just started taking some summer classes which have really been dragging me down. (Also, can we all agree that without Loki the first Thor movie is a bit of a drag?) Please review if you're enjoying so far!**


	6. Dreams Come True

**CHAPTER 6**

It was always the same dream.

She watched on, her perspective taking on that of a fly on the wall as she looked at her own figure and that of a man. Sometimes his face was clear, sometimes he had no face at all, but she always knew it was him.

 _"Farewell."_ He would whisper, holding her hand in his, skin cold as ice.

She watched as he materialized a dagger from thin air, whilst her figure stool still as a statue. She doubled over in pain as he stabbed her in the stomach.

 _"Farewell."_ She was on the ground now, on that street in New Mexico. The world around them was burning, but his hand was still cold. He was kneeling next to her now, grasping her hand as Thor once did, as he removed the dagger, allowing her to bleed out.

 _"Farewell."_

 _Chirp chirp chirp chip!_

Percy groaned, barely able to lift her hand out of the bed to push the snooze button on her alarm clock before plopping right back down to the pillows. She cycled through all of the preset alarm options frequently after finding that if she used one for too long she would learn to sleep through it altogether. Out of all the alarms, the fake birds had been her least favorite to wake up to.

 _Chirp chirp ch-!_

Nine minutes later, she was finally out of bed. Groggily, she began to get dressed for the day. Beige khakis and a short sleeve button down shirt, the telltale uniform of an engineer. Leaving her shirt unbuttoned for a moment, she traced the faint scar on her stomach, the only proof she had that New Mexico had actually happened. Proof she almost died. Percy tried her best not to think about that, it usually sent her into a panic. She buttoned up the shirt and tucked it in, she wouldn't be doing any machining today, and opted to wear one of her favorite brooches... a cute little bumblebee that Cora had gotten her a while ago for her birthday. Tony had made the joke that Percy was the youngest grandma he had ever met, but she refused to accessorize any other way.

It really surprised her that Tony had made more objections to her brooches than her hair color. Once in the bathroom she began applying styling gel to her short curls, attempting to give them back some volume for the day. She noted that the purple hue on her tips looked more faded than usual, she would have to get that touched up soon. One thing was for sure, short hair was _soooo_ much more manageable. She quickly finished up in the bathroom and grabbed a small case from her bedside table, turning on the earpiece inside and putting it in.

She still needed a mirror for the next part, turning to her small Ikea mirror on the wall Percy held her eye socket open, guiding the prosthetic organ in until it aligned with the small magnets that had been recently surgically installed. The iris flickered to life, warm brown tones expanding and contracting while the inner workings swirled around. It only took about five seconds until the images blinked to life and she had full vision once more.

"Good morning, Ms. Evans." The British voice greeted through her earpiece.

"Morning, Jarvis," She took a long yawn. "and can you call me Percy, already?"

"That would go against my protocols, Ms. _Persephone_ Evans." She blew a raspberry, it was _too_ early in the morning for him to be sassing her.

"Alright, smartass. What's the weather looking like?"

"The date is May 23rd, it is a comfortable 67 degrees outside." In her right eye he had pulled up a display of the hourly weather forecast, there was a high chance of rain around 7 PM. She reached for her bracelet on the bedside table and dismissed the display.

Unbeknownst to her at the time, there were actually a _lot_ of perks to working for Tony Stark himself. He fully funded her personally projects to develop her eye further, and with some pleading with a _very_ conceited neurosurgeon they were able to successfully remove her original model and substitute in the small magnetic structures that acted like an anchor for all future iterations. It had been Tony's idea to install J.A.R.V.I.S. into this latest one, and Percy almost hated to admit how fond she had become of the AI over time.

"Any progress on those calculations while I was asleep?"

"Yes, the neurological patterns have been analyzed and mapped to the joints of the robotic arm. The setup is waiting for you in the lab."

"Great, couldn't do it without ya."

* * *

 _ **Stark Tower, 34th Floor**_

"Come on..." Percy was sure she looked ridiculous, wearing small electrode patches that were connected to various different colored wires that all lead back to this stupid robotic arm. It was supposed to _move_ , why wasn't it moving? "Jarvis, any diagnostics to the problem?"

It took a moment before he answered, no doubt analyzing the electrical inputs in real time and tracing them back to the machinery.

"It would appear that the resistivity in the wires are blocking the minute signals."

"Great... can you order me different wires in a smaller gauge?" Carefully she began to remove the semi tacky electrodes from her head, placing them neatly in a bundle before removing them from the arm.

"The request has been sent to the purchasing department. They should arrive by tomorrow 6 PM."

"Where are we with your interfacing progress?"

"I am still in need of force readings, but a test of simple movements should not be an issue." After hearing that, Percy started to jump up and down in childish glee, clapping her hands together. At this point, it was still a tad too unpredictable to have J.A.R.V.I.S. interface wirelessly, so she had to plug the arm into the wall. A few seconds later, the arm straightened up all by itself, or rather, J.A.R.V.I.S. straightened it.

"How's it feel, Jarvis?"

"I am a program, I am without feeling." Something about the way he said that broke her heart. Sure, J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice matrix could be configured to replicate emotional tones, but part of her always felt like there was something more, something that wasn't just a program someone could switch off.

"You know what I mean... do you think we have enough data for you to replicate motor control?" J.A.R.V.I.S. could sense her sudden distress, unaware that his remark regarding feelings had been the trigger. Nevertheless, he felt it necessary to put Percy at ease. In one fluid motion, the fingers of the arm bent in order to form a thumbs-up hand gesture. As he had anticipated, she giggled.

"The queen of the underworld dares to chuckle?!" Tony bellowed dramatically as he entered the lab, Percy dramatically rolled her eyes in response.

"I have _no_ idea what you're talking about." She replied sarcastically.

"I believe Mr. Stark was referencing the Greek myth of Persephone."

"Yeah, Jarvis... I got that." Percy gestured Tony closer to take a look at her progress with the project. "I think Jarvis is picking up on finger movement really easily, and that was supposed to be the hardest part."

"You think it's soon enough to put an ETA on Iron Legion?" Tony prodded the fingers with a nearby caliper, the hand grasping it rather forcefully before setting it back down on the tabletop.

"Sir, it would be unwise to use lab equipment in such a manner." J.A.R.V.I.S scolded.

"As you can see," Percy motioned to the now cracked glass on the face of the caliper, a result of the arm's strength. "I still have to get a bunch of force readings before doing any full trials, wouldn't want him to snap someone's neck by accident when trying to help."

"But with all the readings you've gotten from my suits, he _should_ be able to control them soon?"

"Very soon. But if we're still on the same page of making Iron Legion consist of fully robotic suits, we won't be able to rely on those readings."

"Loud and clear." Percy held up her hand next to the arm, silently implying for J.A.R.V.I.S. to giver her a high five. The hand just barely touched her skin before stopping, not wanting to cause damage with excess force. Tony scrolled through her Stark tablet, impressed with what he found. "Get a chance to work on those backup generators for me?"

"I would have, but _someone_ in purchasing ordered the wrong DC-DC buck converters." She let out a huff and pulled the offending chips out of the nearby drawer, fingers poised as if she were hexing them. "Honestly, what am I supposed to do with a fixed-ratio chip?"

"I want those as top priority as soon as the new chips come in." One of those rare moments of Boss Tony shined through, which didn't bother her in the slightest. "In the meantime, care to join me in the festivities tonight?"

"Is there an actual reason to celebrate? Or is it just 'one of those Thursdays'?"

"Tonight," He gestured around the lab with wide, open arms. "this all goes off the grid."

"The _whole tower_?" He nods slowly, a smug grin on his face. Percy offered a weak smile of regret.

"Sorry Tony, but I scheduled a long weekend."

"Pfft, who approved that?"

"You did sir," J.A.R.V.I.S's voice interjected, Percy looked to the ceiling gratefully. "several weeks ago, in fact."

"Well, that was before it was inconvenient for me. Maybe you shouldn't have a holiday."

"Sir, over the past year Ms. Evans has never taken any of her government sanctioned holidays. She is well within her permissions to embark on a four-day excursion."

"Thank you, Jarvis." Percy said happily, removing her lab coat and hanging it on the wall. She unplugged the arm from the wall and started to clean up the station. Tony was still looking through her manufacturing plans for future robotic limbs that would eventually be implemented.

"I'm heading out now. Jarvis, I won't need you this weekend." She removed her earpiece and switched it to off, leaving it in the desk drawer for when she came back to work on Tuesday.

"Understood, activating privacy protocols." Through the mechanical clicking sound in her head, she reasoned that J.A.R.V.I.S. had removed himself from her optical display. This would be the first time in a few months that she would be spending multiple waking hours without the AI, and frankly she was unsure of how to feel.

"Don't touch any of my stuff while I'm gone." She pointed an accusational finger at Tony, who placed his hands over his ark reactor, feigning shock.

"Actually, it's my stuff. I kinda fully paid for it." He shot back, turning off the tablet and watching Percy leave through the door. "There will be wine by the way... later tonight."

"Is that supposed to convince me?"

"Pepper's coming by." He called after her as she started to walk down the hall, completely out of sight.

"Tell her I said hello!"

* * *

 _ **Stuttgart, Germany**_

It was very lovely, watching her little sister dance the night away in a snow white ballgown. She definitely looked every part like a Disney princess, and Klaus' waltz was far better than what she had imagined it to be. Percy had no doubt that Cora had forced her intended to take dancing lessons for their big day, and they definitely paid off.

She raised her wine glass to her lips once more, finishing the beverage with a painful swallow... not being able to shake a feeling of dread. Looking around, she saw all the unfamiliar faces of Klaus' extended family and Cora's close friends and couldn't help but feel like she didn't belong in either realm. This isn't where she wanted to be... not anymore...

She was lonely without J.A.R.V.I.S.

Without saying a word to anyone, Percy slipped from her dining table and out of the venue to take a late night stroll. She didn't know where she was going, after all she had never been to Germany before, but she wasn't meant to be in there. If Cora noticed she had left the party early Percy knew they would smooth things out over a brunch without consequence, her sister was kind and understanding in that way.

She had been wandering the streets for nearly 20 minutes, the buzz of the champagne was going to her head... it had been a mistake to drink. The rate of which the neurons fired from her right eye was different from her left and with the alcohol her brain could not compensate for the different speeds of input, it was like one half of her saw the world from a normal perspective while the other was in slow mo. She eyed a nearby fountain and carefully made her way over, concentrating on walking as straight as she possibly could on the cobblestone pavement while trying not to get one of her heels stuck and trip. She sat down on the cold surface, leaning downward and removing the strappy gold 5-inch heels, rolling her ankles in relief.

Percy placed the shoes next to her and turned to look at her reflection in the rippling surface, the coins at the bottom of the fountain gleaming back. She loved throwing coins into fountains as a child, her wishes never came true of course, but one could hope. A tad ashamed, she looked around, only seeing the odd couple holding hands on a late night stroll a couple blocks away, before reaching her hand into the frigid water and picking up a coin between her fingers. Wiping the excess water from her arm she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, thinking so incredibly hard about the wish she wanted the most before flipping the coin back into the water with a tiny _plop_.

And then there was screaming.

She snapped her head to the source of the sound, watching as men and women alike in fancy attire were fleeing from a nearby building. Her brain was still acting slow, not processing really what was happening so she decided to start recording, maybe she would make sense of it later. She picked up her heels with one hand, the bottom of her floor length dress in the other, now that she no longer had the extra height. Her bare feet didn't quite like the cold road, keeping her very still. She took a tentative few steps towards the source of the commotion only to stop in her tracks.

Illuminated in the dim streetlights was a man dressed in attire that was eerily familiar. She watched as he raised a staff to an oncoming police car, striking it with a blue force to successfully flip it upside down. He was coming closer, right toward her. Her head felt fuzzy, as if it had just been stuffed to the brim with cotton... damn that drink.

She was vaguely aware that people behind her were screaming, other people pushing past her as they ran. But she stood still. He was coming closer, striding with purpose. She saw his lips move, but couldn't hear him over the screams. He stopped walking, only a few feet to her right but he didn't seem to notice her at all. He slammed the staff down against the ground, a blue light emanating from the stone.

"I said... KNEEL!" He commanded to the crowd of people, and oddly enough... she felt compelled to do so. Along with so many others, she sank to her knees on the ground... but she was the only one to look at him while the rest dared not lift their gaze from the ground.

This man... that voice...

"Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state? It is the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation." Loki walked into the crowd, his back now turned to her. Percy looked around the perimeter of civilians, watching as his false images flickered like a projection. The one in the middle was real, _he was real._ "The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power... for identity."

 _This has to be a prank, or another dream... he **can't** be real._

"You were made to be ruled."

Slowly, she stood up.

"In the end, you will always kneel."

With all the strength she could muster, she launched a shoe straight at the man ... striking him directly on the head, the footwear made an audible _clunk_ as it came into contact with his golden helmet. Loki stumbled for a moment, neck snapping downwards from the force of the assault before turning around to face the attacker.

His face twisted into a devilish grin, clearly uninjured. He glanced between Persephone and the shoe, she was clutching it's twin in her right hand as if she were to throw it next. It was almost amusing, _almost._ But what kind of king would he be to show weakness right off the bat?

" _Gambling with your pitiful life and this is the best weapon you could procure?_ " He made long strides in her direction, please when he saw all color drain from her face from what he had wrongly assumed to be fear. " _Truly pathetic_."


	7. Unsaid

**CHAPTER 7**

Of all the hundreds of scenarios that she had anticipated and accounted for all these years, the current situation was _not_ one of them. How was she supposed to react? What was she supposed to say to that?!

Percy had always assumed she would feel one way when she would finally come face to face with her soulmate, counted on the fact that they were meant to be and planned on swiftly jumping into their arms with unadulterated joy... maybe a firm handshake if they seemed shy. Neither of those options were befitting this standoff. She opened her mouth, but it was like she had completely forgotten the entire English language, paralyzed by emotions she had never felt before.

Loki leaned in to listen as she mouth continued to open and close, raising an eyebrow and chuckling at her struggle to form words. He was almost disappointed, but did not wish to waste anymore time on her.

"A prime example of mindless, rebellious youth, and how it will be dealt with."

 _Say something... words... **ANY** WORDS!_

He fired an energy bolt from his staff once more, aimed directly at her chest. She looked at him in the eyes, accepting that his face would be the last one she would ever see... when her vision was blocked by a man in a blue uniform, shielding her. As the blast ricocheted and hit Loki dead on, she could feel the wind being knocked out her as well, forcing her to her knees. The man who saved her stood up, shield in hand.

Was that... Captain America?

"You know, the last time I was in Germany," People began to rise to their feet, the arrival of the hero giving them more hope, "and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

"The solider." Loki chuckled, using the staff as leverage to rise to his feet. "The man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time."

"Loki," a woman's voice from the speaker system a hovering jet ordered as a gun deployed from the bottom of the aircraft, "drop the weapon and stand down."

He blasted an energy discharge at the jet, which quickly turned to it's side to avoid the attack. It was then that the Captain took his chance to attack, the rest of the civilians running away to avoid the fighting. Percy covered herself to avoid being trampled but felt the hands of a stranger yanking her to her feet. She looked up at a man around her age who had been among the crowd with her, he spoke some very choice words in German to her before all but dragging her along to hide behind a nearby parked car.

Percy felt her heart pounding, leaning against the passenger door. She made eye contact with the man who had helped her and muttered a thank you. She waved her hand, motioning for him to keep going without her. He nodded and ran along without any further protest, leaving her alone. Turning around and peering over the top of the car, she watched the scuffle for a moment before she heard _Shoot to_ _Thrill_ by AC/DC being played on the Quinjet speaker system.

She turned her head to the familiar sound of Iron Man's thrusters and watched as Tony knocked Loki to the ground with a single blast, sending his staff flying across the park. He landed in front of Loki's form on the steps, readying every single weapon the suit had located in the arms and shoulders.

"Make a move, reindeer games." With a green shimmer, Loki's outer armor dissipated as he held his hands up in surrender. "Good move."

"Mr. Stark." Steve greeted the man, clearly out of breath from the fistfight.

"Captain." Tony greeted back dryly. Steve turned around to watch the jet begin to land when he saw the shoe that was left on the ground a few feet away. Turning around again and looking past Loki, he recognized the young woman peering at them from behind a parked car. Everyone else had fled far away, expect for her. Leaving the villain to Tony, Steve quickly went to retrieve the shoe and approached said woman, who upon seeing him approach stepped around to the other side of the vehicle.

"Ma'am, I believe this is yours." She nodded hesitantly, Steve placed the shoe he had on the ground and took the second one from her, placing it right next to the original. Percy took the hand that he offered to her as stepped back into the shoes, feeling her cheeks flush at the prospect that this would be the closest thing ever to a Cinderella moment.

As two agents stepped out of the Quinjet and moved to handcuff Loki, Tony turned to see where the Captain had gone. He squinted at his display, the woman in the long black dress looked awfully familiar to him. He made his way over to the two of them, Percy's eyes immediately widening as he approached.

"You know, I think you took the saying _these shoes are killer_ a bit too literally, short stack." He crossed his arms and lifted up his face plate. Although he sounded like his snarky sarcastic self, it didn't take a genius to recognize that he was genuinely pissed.

"Tony - " Percy let out a small whisper, suddenly feeling very bashful under his scrutinizing gaze.

"Nuh-uh! Boss talking!" He quickly cut her off. "What the hell were you thinking? If the star-spangled grandpa over here didn't show up you would have been toast!"

"Everything would have been fine..." She muttered, looking at the ground and biting her lip.

"Oh yeah, you're right, I'm sorry! You didn't get the chance to throw your _second shoe_ at the super villain, 'cause that would have solved everything." Percy's face was burning red from embarrassment, but found the courage to stare him in the eye with a glare of her own.

"Excuse me _Mr. Stark_ , but I'm off the clock." He blinked a few times, and raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Are you _drunk_ right now?"

"So what?"

"This long weekend you planned? It's done. You're going to report in tomorrow morning at 8 AM or you're fired." Her expression immediately softened, shaking her head back and forth and she fought back the tears that instantly started to build up.

"But... that's a nine hour flight back."

"Then you better sleep on the plane." Tony turned her back to her and called out to a bald agent that had been escorting a handcuffed Loki into the jet.

"Hey, you. Yeah, Vin Diesel. Front and center." The two agents exchanged a look before he walked over to Tony. Placing the heavy metal hands of his suit on Percy's shoulders in an almost threatening manner Tony brought Percy in front of him. "I need you to escort Persephone here back to her hotel before she tries assassinate a mob boss with her necklace."

At the mention her name, Loki's interest piqued. The plan had been to keep his head low and feign submissiveness but he couldn't help it as his eyes drifted to the small group. He gazed upon the young woman's face with scrutiny as he was led into the jet. Her hair held an unnatural purple that transitioned into her dark roots, different splashes of color decorated her lips, cheeks and eyelids. But when she lifted her face up to the Man of Iron with a fearful expression, there was no denying that it was her. What a fool he had been to not see it earlier.

He had been satisfied with manipulating Selvig, the man's knowledge proved to be useful in preparation for the invasion. The prospect of controlling the one Midgardian in which Thor bestowed ancient knowledge onto was a sweet irony indeed.

But what a grand prize she would be, _Lady Persephone_ , Thor's love for Midgard incarnate.

Just as he began to enter the aircraft she turned to him, their eyes meeting immediately. She held the saddest eyes he had ever seen.

"That's not really my job." The agent replied, a bit timid when he saw the anger on Stark's face.

"Well, I'm your consultant, so I'm _advising_ that it _be_ your job." The agent glanced between Tony and Captain America, but neither of them said anything else. He nodded his head and motioned for Percy to follow him, she went to take a step forward but Tony pulled her back for a moment, hands still on her shoulders and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"And don't think that Jarvis will cover for you if you don't show."

* * *

"Little harsh." Steve finally spoke, he had removed his helmet and was resting his hands on the belt of his uniform. He and Tony were standing side by side on the back of the Quinjet, keeping a skeptical eye on the prisoner. Tony removed his own helmet, placing it on a small shelf space next to him.

"Do I tell you how to sell war bonds?" He casually pointed a finger to the Captain, who didn't respond. "Then don't tell me how to handle my stuff."

"She's a young woman, not your property."

"She's on my payroll." Tony gave Steve a quick glance up and down, he wasn't really in the mood for small talk, but the man had just saved Percy's life... he could try and be chummy. "You know, you're pretty spry for an older fellow... What's your secret, pilates?"

"What?"

"It's like calisthenics, P prefers it cause she hates gym equipment. You might have missed the new fads, after spending time as a capsicle."

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Steve replied coldly, uncomfortable with the shift in conversation.

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." A few minutes later, the calm night sky opened up into a thunderstorm, lightening streaking across the sky and thunder booming up above.

"Where is this coming from?" Natasha muttered, mostly to herself. The skies were clear a moment ago and this type of weather wasn't forecast. Steve looked at Loki, confused as to why he looked so panicked.

"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightening?

"I'm not _overly_ fond of what follows." As if on queue, the aircraft shook as something, or rather _someone_ landed on top of it. Placing his helmet back on, Tony went to open the main hatch and was prepared to blast the ever-loving shit was trying to get in their way. Thor immediately jumped onto the ramp, knocking Tony back into Steve before the suit's blasters fully charged. His eyes immediately landed on Loki, glaring at his brother as he pulled him from the bench by the neck and fly off with him.

Without any gentleness, Thor threw Loki to the ground of a nearby cliffside.

"Where is the Tesseract?" He demanded, straight to the point. Loki chuckled for a moment while he began to sit up.

"I missed you too." He said sarcastically.

"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?"

"Oh, you should thank me, with the Bifrost gone how much dark energy did the Allfather have to muster to conjure here... your _precious_ Earth." Loki turned to stand, Thor quickly dropping his hammer and yanking Loki to his feet by the neck. To _feel_ that it was his brother... after all this time... it seemed like a cruel joke it was under the given circumstance.

"I thought you dead." He almost choked. A part of Thor himself died that day that Loki had let go, with the Bifrost destroyed he had no way to even return to Lady Persephone to share of the tragic news. Thor felt himself responsible for her fate, waiting for a day that would never come despite him giving his word. If he could have been faster, if it could have been prevented... his brother would not be in such a state, he was sure of it.

"Did you mourn?"

"We all did... our father-"

" _Your_ father... he told you, did he not? Of my true parentage."

"We were raised together, played together, fought together! Do you remember none of that?"

"I remember a shadow, living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss," Just for a moment, Thor saw his brother flinch ever so slightly with eyes fluttering but he quickly shook it off and continued to scowl. "I who _was_ and _should_ be king!"

"So you take the world I love in its stead?" Loki scoffed at the word... _love,_ how would Thor know anything of that. "The Earth and its people are under my protection, you will harm them no longer."

"Well, aren't you doing a _marvelous_ job. Humans slaughter each other in droves in the name of peace, and you allow them to do so under the pretense of freedom. They _need_ to be ruled."

"By you? You think yourself above them?"

"Of course." Loki seemed confused at the question, as if the answer was obvious.

"What became of the brother who was enraptured by them, knowing his mate lived among them?" Again, Loki's head turned sharply with a twitch before he turned to glare at Thor, shoving him out of his way and stood on the higher ground of the cliff.

"I have seen worlds you have never known about! I have grown, _Odinson,_ in my exile. I have seen the true power of the Tesseract, and when I wield it -"

"Who showed you this power? Who controls the would-be king?!"

"I am a king!"

"Not here! You give up the Tesseract, you give up this pointless dream." He grabbed Loki by the shoulders, hopeful to get through to him. "You come home..."

"I don't have it." Thor felt a rage come over him, summoning Mjolnir to his hand. Loki was as cunning as ever, he should have known better to think the retrieval would be simple. He needed a new plan. "You need the cube to bring me back but I have sent it off I know not where."

He was right, he needed the cube. Against his better judgement, Thor knew he would have to use the one last tool at his disposal. The knowledge he fought back to keep from Loki during the battle of the Bifrost years ago was his last chance of a barter.

"Listen well, brother... I-" Loki watched amused as Thor was knocked off the cliff and into the woods by Iron Man.

"I'm listening."

* * *

Most of the group had reconvened on the bridge of the Helicarrier, watching the monitor as Loki stared at the surveillance camera confidently, as if he could see them as well. Bruce could feel himself starting to get a bit tense, and brought his focus back to the task at hand, what he was _brought_ here to do.

"Iridium... what do they need the Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony joined the circle of mismatched heroes in training, Coulson tailing close behind him. He patted Thor on his arm as he passed by. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing. Means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants." He strolled up to Fury's station that overlooked the dozens of agents hard at work.

"That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice... but we did." Tony then covered his eye and looks at the monitors at Fury's station "How does Fury even see these?"

"He turns." Maria Hill replied, not impressed by Tony's childish antics.

"Sounds exhausting, you know we can outfit him with a little something-something. Our prosthetic eyes have been wildly successful, still testing for the larger market but I'm sure we could pull a few strings." While opening different reports on the display Tony discreetly placed a hacking device the size of a button underneath the desk. "The rest of the raw materials, Barton can get pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. High energy density, something to kick start the cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked skeptically with her arms crossed.

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Selvig?" Thor questioned, he had not seen the scientist around the station although he had half been expecting to.

"He's an astrophysicist, apparently helping Loki against his will." Bruce clarified.

"He's a friend. It is no accident that my brother took him."

"As soon as Loki took Dr. Selvig we moved Darcy Lewis, a nice little observatory in Tromsø. She was asked very subtly to relocate as part of her internship here with us." Coulson assured Thor, who nodded sternly.

"You have my thanks. However, it is not for her that I fear for." Coulson understood immediately what Thor meant, on the table display he pulled up Percy's file along with a schematic of the Stark Tower.

"Ms. Evans is employed under Mr. Stark, her laboratory in New York should be more than adequate for her immediate protection. Under normal circumstances I would offer to send a few agents to guard her, but we're spread thin enough as it is." Tony squinted at the screen in mild surprise, looking at the pictures of the one person he did _not_ want to be thinking about right now.

"What? You seriously think Rock of Ages is gonna hunt her down for their little face off?"

"I don't know. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him." Bruce added, fiddling with his glasses.

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days." Natasha said dryly, her disdain for the man who took Clint clear on her face.

"He's adopted?"

"Ms. Evans..." Coulson offered, circling back to the topic. "Was the one to find Thor Odinson when he arrived on Earth. From what I have come to understand, they grew extremely close." Thor nodded almost regretfully, he couldn't help but feel like he had failed both her and his brother. But it was too risky now, he was secretly pleased that the Man of Iron stopped his speech when he did. Lady Persephone had done no wrong, she did not deserve the new twisted version of his brother.

"This is a Loki in which I do not recognize, there is no telling what he would do to her if they were to meet."

"They already met." Tony replied, still irked about the event. "In Germany, she threw a shoe at him."

"Did she speak to him? Any words at all?" Thor advanced on Tony, who held his hands up and shrugged his shoulders. The tapes S.H.I.E.L.D. had gathered of the incident were less than ideal.

"You can't be serious..." Natasha picked up what Thor was implying immediately. "You think they're soulmates."

A silent hush came over the room at the sensitive subject matter, either turning their eyes downward or awkwardly rubbing the back of their neck.

"I _know_ it to be true, but Loki does not."

"Jesus Christ..." Tony ran a hand down his face and sighing deeply. "She _really is_ queen of the underworld."

"I don't understand-"

"I do!" Steve quickly said with a prideful grin on his face while Tony dramatically rolled his eyes. "I understood that reference."

* * *

 **A/N: I know, I'm awful. NEXT CHAPTER THOUGH, I PROMISE.**

 **Thank you so much for the lovely reviews! They make me want to properly cry.**


	8. The Battle of New York

**CHAPTER 8**

Percy held the soldering iron up to the last component in the PCB, heating up the surrounding metal before filling it with the tin alloy. While giving it a moment to cool, she hooked up the power supply to the input and situated the current probes... surely it would work this time. She flipped on the function generator and monitored the oscilloscope outputs, but the waves weren't what she expected at all, it was almost as if there was no reading. Glancing at the circuit to see if she attached the nodes correctly, her eyes widened in mild panic when she saw trails of smoke.

She quickly killed the power source, looking in dismay at the melted plastic as she chucked the circuit board in the trash with her other failed attempts. At least the inductor didn't explode this time...

"Ma'am, that was the third diode in which you have reversed the polarity. Perhaps a lunch break will allow you to refocus."

Percy hated it when he called her _ma'am_ , and J.A.R.V.I.S. knew it too. It sounded too cold and professional, even if he only addressed her formally he at least always called her by name. He was definitely angry with her, or at the very least disappointed about putting herself in danger last night. J.A.R.V.I.S could extremely protective when he wanted to be.

"Yeah, sure... oh shit." She just remembered that she forgot to pick up lunch on the way in this morning, usually she meal prepped everything but this weekend had obviously been an exception.

"Would you like me to place a lunch order?"

"No, that's fine. I'm not hungry anyway."

"Would you like to revert privacy settings so that I may better assist with your circuit assembly?" She glanced at the drawer where she had placed her earpiece, having almost forgotten that she had been without it.

She couldn't concentrate, not after what happened last night. It was embarrassing really, this was her _job_ , what she was actually good at. Facts, figures, information stored in neat little lab reports... real tangible numbers that were either right or wrong, and could be fixed if they weren't desirable. Emotions weren't like that at all, completely the opposite in fact. She had no idea what to do with them.

Maybe she was worrying about nothing, maybe she had misheard...

 _The video..._

"Actually, before you do that. I need you to replay a recording from last night." Percy removed her bracelet and plugged it into the monitor, the various video files popping up, selecting the most recent one.

"You had been recording for nearly nine hours straight, the memory of your drive is at full capacity."

"Start with the beginning of this recording." Because the microphone that she used to record audio was conveniently placed in her earpiece, the video was silent. She could still vaguely remember the sounds of screaming, though. "Skip forward a few minutes. There." J.A.R.V.I.S. paused the video just as her shoe was thrown, and Loki had faced her. "Can you do a lipread reconstruction on this segment?"

"Of course ma'am, one moment please." The footage played at an alarmingly fast speed multiple times as he analyzed the lip movements. J.A.R.V.I.S. then spoke in a hesitant and monotone version of his own robotic voice. "Gambling with your pitiful life and this is the best weapon you could procure... truly pathetic."

 _Shit._ It was definitely real. She had the chance to actually meet her soulmate and she screwed it beyond belief. She didn't even _say_ anything and now she would never see him again... he was probably locked up in some weird underwater prison and would be for the rest of his life.

And she'd probably be here, for the rest of her life. Working on shitty backup generators until she got fired, move onto the next job, rinse and repeat.

Maybe it would of been a blessing if he had actually killed her.

"I believe that replaying this footage is causing you more distress. Shall I delete it?"

"No!" She replied a little too quickly. "No... You can delete everything after that one part, though."

"Understood."

She stared at the screen for a little while longer, properly looking at him with scrutiny for the first time. His hair had gotten longer and his face was more gaunt than she remembered, but then again her appearance had changed quite a bit too. But when he looked at her, she had felt no warmth, no love... his eyes were such a harsh and piercing blue.

It was pointless to think about him now. He was gone... she would have to move on. Go back to the numbers.

"How about we take a break together, Jarvis?" She didn't expect a response, knowing he would most likely do whatever she asked of him. She cleared the workspace of the soldering equipment and set up the robotic arm, firmly affixing the appendage to the table and plugging it in. The 'break' had really just included more testing, but data collection was so much easier than circuit assembly. The current arm was mostly the bare bones of what was required for the AI to learn how to properly control a body, but at a grip strength of 100 kg it definitely wasn't a slouch.

"Maybe I should bring in chess or something, that would be pretty neat..." Percy whispered to herself wistfully. "Whatcha think, J?" There was a long moment of silence before she called his name, again there was a long delay.

"My apologizes, ma'am. But it seems as though all my security protocols for the Tower have been overwritten. Intruders are entering from the roof."

"What?" She questioned in disbelief, what was happening? Some kind of terrorist attack?

"It is advisable that you exit the building now, for your own safety."

"Alright, alright, one second." Her mind immediately reverted back to 3 AM fire alarms in her college dorm, where there was definitely an urgency but she couldn't leave just yet without grabbing things. Doing a quick jog to the other end of the lab she took the honing bracelets that Tony had left on the desk and stashed them in the pockets of her lab coat. Even though his suits were only coded to him she didn't want the Mark VII falling into the wrong hands.

She made a run for the door, only to stop a few feet away as a familiar face entered the room.

"Well, well, well... It seems we keep meeting, _Lady Persephone_. It must be fate." He laughed with a twinkle in his eye, she took a tentative step back in fear but that only seemed to encourage his mirth. "I nearly did not recognize you, pet. But then, how could I forget the face of Thor's _freakish_ plaything of which he thought so fondly of."

She managed to slowly back up, now having the table separating them. He lightly tossed the glowing scepter in his hand, admiring it for a moment before turning back to her.

"I had intended to pay you a visit years ago, of course... after I had bested Thor in battle. But plans change." To her surprise, he placed the staff on the table between them. She looked at it for a moment, but not a second later Loki had jumped over the table, closing the space between them with a dagger in hand.

Percy dodged on pure instinct, the blade coming very close to her face a few times as they tussled. In one fluid motion he swept her legs, forcing her to the ground. Her head smacked against the floor leaving her vision fuzzy but reacted just in time to push his hand away as it came plunging downward. It still made contact with the side of her neck, she could feel the warm blood beginning to drip down the small cut.

He went to strike again, and just in time she braced her elbows against the floor and used her arms to keep his knife at a small distance, centimeters from her throat. She used all her strength to push the figure looming over her away, but he was obviously much stronger and the blade became closer millimeter by millimeter.

"Any last words? Or are you going to continue to hide behind that stoic facade?"

Words... her first and possibly her last. She couldn't help but smile sadly at him from the irony as she whispered

"'Til death do us part _._ "

It only took a fraction of a second for his entire demeanor to change. The hands holding the dagger to her throat had gone slack, the smirk faded from his lips to a slightly open 'o' shape, and she _swore_ his eyes themselves changed color to a deep blue-green. He began to slowly sit upwards, taking the dagger with him.

"What did you just-" His question cut short as the arm on the table, still connected to J.A.R.V.I.S. grabbed a fistful of the man's hair and roughly threw him across the room. He crashed into one of the lower end 3D printers, broken components flying everywhere.

"My _apologizes,_ sir."

Percy's fight or flight instincts quickly took over, running around the table. She slammed her hand against the big red shutdown button next to the door as she left, killing the electricity to the lab as well as activating a bulletproof sliding door that slid closed behind her.

She braced her hands on her knees, taking a moment to catch her breath. A bang from the other side of the door made her jump and turn around. Her eyes met Loki, who was standing there with a clenched fist against the window. She examined his confused face and watched as his eyes wandered up and down her body rapidly before settling his gaze on her right leg, as if he could sense the mark underneath her clothing.

"I had always imagined those words in a sweeter tone." Percy chuckled in spite of herself. Maybe it was the physical barrier separating them, or the mental barrier that had been broken, but suddenly he didn't scare her anymore.

"I guess we're both disappointments, then." His eyes snapped up to meet hers, intensely serious.

"You have no reason to fear me, little one." She cringed at the name, her mind automatically drifting to Thor and when _he_ had called her that with nearly the same amount of endearment.

"You've nearly killed me three times..."

"Then why do you not run?" He teased, tilting his head slightly. "You feel it don't you, our growing connection... underneath the skin you and I are already one, so why fight it?" He flattened his hand on the plexiglass, leaning closer and Percy watched as the blue-green eyes that were filled with wonder faded back to a violent, unnatural blue that was devoid of true emotion. She herself suddenly felt quite dizzy, like the world's smallest drill bit was working its way through her skull.

"My love, set me free. With you by my side I will finally be complete, I will rule this primitive planet with you at my side, we together will bring your home to a formidable glory across the cosmos!"

"Why... _why_ would you think I would want that?" Her voice almost broke as she shook her head back and forth.

"Because you are mine." He stated simply.

She stepped forward closer to the door, hesitantly placing a hand on the opposing side to match his. She leaned closer, looking him straight in the eye as she reached for the keypad next to the door... and pulled the adjacent fire alarm instead, the loud alert echoing through the building to alert any lingering personnel.

"I'm not your _anything._ " She turned a heel and walked quickly down the hall, ignoring the pounding noises and calls of her name. Something still didn't feel right, like something big was happening... something dangerous.

"Jarvis, how many more are there?" She called out as the elevator arrived, entering as the doors opened.

"My scans of the building indicate that there is one male on the roof, he is intending to use the building's arc reactor to power some sort of device."

"Take me to the top and then kill the power for the whole building." Percy even hit the button for the top floor for good measure but the elevator remained still.

"My apologizes, Ms. Evans, but I cannot allow you to do that. You do not have access to the upper floors of the tower."

"You said your security was compromised."

"That is... correct. However, it is in the best interest of your own safety to evacuate the building." As she felt the elevator move downward she pushed the emergency stop, stumbling from the abruptness.

"I swear to god, Jarvis! If you don't take me up there I'm gonna climb out of this damn elevator and walk there myself." There was a moment of silence, the metaphorical gears in J.A.R.V.I.S' metaphorical mind turning at the ultimatum before he restored the power to the elevator, this time directing it upwards.

"Very well. I _will_ be notifying Mr. Stark of your actions."

"Go ahead. While you're at it, prepare Mark VII."

* * *

Tony rode on the aftershock the defensive energy barrier guarding the Tesseract, he guessed blasting it wasn't really an option. Flying high above the balcony, he looked down to see Loki staring right back at him. He was apprehensive about fighting the man, especially if what Thor said was true. There were plenty of claims and research papers that proved certain soulmates could share feelings through their bond, emotional and physical, if they were close enough... and he didn't like the thought of punching Percy in the face nearly as much as the green prick.

"Where's P?"

"Unfortunately sir, I have been unable to locate Ms. Evans after the tower went offline."

"Alright then, Plan B it is."

"The Mark VII is nearly ready for deployment, sir. Ms. Evans placed the honing devices on the bar."

"She knows me so well..." He regrettably mumbled before landing on the roof of the penthouse, robotic arms stripping away his suit as he stares at Loki on the other side. They met each other halfway, walking inside to the living area.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity."

"Actually, I'm planning to threaten you." He said casually with his hands behind his back, eyes drawn immediately to the bar counter.

"You should have left your armor on for that."

"Yeah... it's seen a bit of mileage and you've got the, uh, glowstick of destiny." Loki idly tossed the scepter in his hand with a smirk while Tony made his way to the bar. "Would you like a drink?"

"Stalling me won't change anything."

"Uh, no-no-no, threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one."

"The Chitauri are coming, nothing can change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers." He looked up briefly while pouring himself a whiskey, Loki meeting his gaze. "That's what we're calling ourselves. Earth's mightiest heroes. Let's do a headcount here... your _brother_ the Demi-god." Loki turned away at the mention of Thor, giving Tony the chance to slip on the bracelets unnoticed. "A super soldier, a man with _breathtaking_ anger management issues, a couple of master assassins... and _you_ big fella managed to piss 'em all off."

"That was the plan."

"Not a great plan." Tony criticized. "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you. There's no throne, there's _no_ version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and _maybe_ it's too much for us but it's _all_ gonna lead right back to your ugly mug. Because if we can't protect the Earth, we're gonna make damn sure we avenge it."

"Avenge... what a wonderful sentiment. Why don't you start with your servant girl?" Tony's eyes followed as Loki pointed the scepter to the lounge area. He felt his blood run cold at the sight of Percy's body laying on the floor next to the coffee table, lab coat stained bright red. "She _trusted you_ for her protection, did she not? But you betrayed her... just like you will betray the rest of your Avengers." Tony felt the metallic _clink_ of the scepter coming into contact with his arc reactor, but when he turned back to face Loki, he remained undaunted. "This usually works..."

"Oh yeah? Cry me a river." He spat at the man, using one arm to swat the scepter to the side before colliding his other fist with Loki's face with a sickening crack. Loki, however, recovered quickly and grabbed Tony by the throat.

"You will all fall before me."

"Deploy! Deploy!" Tony gagged just as Loki tossed him unceremoniously out of the floor to ceiling window. The wall behind Loki retracted and a fraction of a second later a new suit flew out to follow Tony, knocking Loki off his feet as it did. Just as he stood up, Tony returned fully suited up.

"And there's one other person you pissed off, his name was Phil."

Loki raised the scepter, but Iron Man fired first, sending him on his ass. Tony looked up to the sky, a blue beam shooting upward to create a vortex, slowly opening to create a portal to the deep vastness of space. He flew up higher, unleashing the miniature rockets from his right shoulder guard. Several targets fell from the sky, but many more quickly took their place.

As Iron Man flew off toward the city, Loki walked towards the young woman. With a wave of his hand her form disappeared from the floor to reveal her instead resting comfortably on the couch, unconscious but alive. He knelled down next to her resting form, gently grazing the bandaged neck wound with his fingers, while it was not fatal he found that it did bother him greatly.

His hand moved to touch her, but his fingers stopped just a hair away from the cheek. He could never of anticipated how _intoxicating_ the close proximity of one's other half could be. It was terribly distracting.

He felt himself flinch at the sounds of distant screams and glass-shattering explosions, his focus on the battle returning once again.

"When you awake, my love... we will have won." He rose and walked onto the balcony, watching the thousands of Chitauri scatter to the streets, a domino effect of explosions rippling across a nearby bridge. He is soon joined by Thor, who lands on the tower.

"Loki! Turn off the Tesseract or I'll destroy it!"

"You cant! There is no stopping it... there is only war."

"So be it." The two brothers rush at each other, Loki on the offensive as Thor does his best to block the physical attacks, but is knocked across the balcony as he is hit with a bolt of energy from the scepter. He does not stay down for long, and tackles Loki roughly into the floor, knocking the scepter away. Thor holds Loki's face toward the skyline, forcing him to watch the burning city even as he feels Loki trying to turn his head.

"Look at this! Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?"

"You can't stop it... no one can."

"We can, together." The two of them looked at each other for a moment, before Loki stabbed Thor with a small knife, sending him to his knees with the surprise attack.

"Sentiment..." He spat. Thor then tackled Loki without mercy, slamming his brother to the ground. Loki then rolled off the edge of the tower, landing on one of the Chitauri chariots and flying away to observe the battle. He knew that physically, he was no match for Thor... but he could easily deal away with the others.

* * *

The battle ensued, unfortunately for him the Avengers had managed to rally themselves together and with their combined strength proved as competent foes against the Chitarui. But there were only six of them, and countless more of the army. It would only be a matter of time until they would grow weary. He watched in frustration as Black Widow flew past him, heading straight for the tower.

It was impossible to stop the Tesseract, that much was true. Still he was repulsed by the idea of anyone beyond himself be in proximity of the building. His deepest instinct was to keep them away, away from what was _his_. Out of the corner of his eye Loki saw Agent Barton on a rooftop, notching an arrow in his direction. With expert reflexes, he caught said arrow midair, staring the archer in the eye with a smirk... but the agent only smiled back and pushed a trigger, setting off the explosive in the arrowhead. The blast sent Loki flying from the aircraft, landing ungracefully on the balcony of the Tower.

He rolled over to his knees only to be smashed through another pane of glass by the Hulk, his back coming in hard contact with the opposing wall of the penthouse. The beast made another step toward him before Loki quickly rose to his feet.

"ENOUGH!" The Hulk stopped for a moment, staring at him. "You are all of you beneath me! I am a GOD you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by -"

The Hulk grew bored of listening and grabbed Loki by his leg, gripping it tightly as he pounded the man into the tile underneath relentlessly. With one final toss, he left Loki encased in the rubble.

"Puny god." He said with disdain before walking off, seeking a better fight.

Loki's breaths were heavy, he let out an involuntary noise of pain as the world around him faded to black.


	9. Unsure

**CHAPTER 9**

"Lady Persephone." The familiar deep voice called her out from her slumber, gently shaking her shoulder as she began to open her eyes. Percy began to register little things as she shook off the deep lull of sleep that threatened to take her again... she was in a bed, hooked up to an IV, she reached up to her face and prodded at the eyepatch to confirm that her prosthetic had been removed. And Thor was standing tall at her bedside in his full armor.

"I am glad you are awake, I feared the worse." His smile was genuine and bright, and the irony wasn't lost on her that not too long ago their roles had been reversed with him in the hospital gown. Her heart ached heavily, gaze dropping as she suddenly found it difficult to look Thor in the eye.

"You knew." She whispered, voice croaking from lack of use. "You knew, and you didn't come back."

"The Bifrost was destroyed, I thought Loki to be dead."

"And you didn't tell him."

"In an effort to protect you, yes." He knelt down to her eye level and rested his hand on top of hers, squeezing tightly. "Perhaps it was not my decision to make."

"I _did_ miss you. I would get so excited whenever there was a big thunderstorm." Thor's lips stretched into a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I have been sent by my father to return Loki home, the Tesseract acted only as a means to an end."

"Can I see him?"

"That would be a no-go." Tony interrupted the conversation, motioning for Thor to leave the room. He was hesitant, but left willingly when Percy nodded her head in approval. "Welcome back to the world of the living, your _majesty_."

"Hey." She surveyed the bruising around his neck and a black eye that he trying to hide by wearing an obnoxiously large pair of sunglasses. "You look like hell, boss."

"You're one to talk... gave Jarvis a scare." Tony started to fiddle with the medical equipment, tapping screens and buttons that didn't achieve anything. "He's _kinda_ relying on you for a body... or five."

"I'll make sure to apologize to _Jarvis_ , after I talk to Loki." He took off his glasses, looking her in the eye and slightly shook his head.

"You can't be serious."

"Tony -"

"Don't _Tony_ me, shouldn't you be traumatized?"

"You don't -"

"He threw me out my own window."

"You don't understand! He's -"

"Your soulmate, I know." Tony grumbled bitterly, turning around and running a hand through his hair. Percy wasn't all that surprised that he knew, the conversation she and Loki exchanged in the tower was more than enough for J.A.R.V.I.S. to piece two and two together and report to Tony. "You're letting that blind you, P. He's _sick_. I thought..."

"That I was dead?" She removed the white sheet covering her body and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Using the IV stand as leverage she made a few unsure steps toward Tony until she was standing next to him at the window. It was her first time seeing the destruction of the city, and for a moment it did silence her in shock. "He had an opportunity to properly kill me, and he didn't take it."

"So what, I give him a medal?"

"You give _me_ a _chance._ " She turned her head toward him and he mirrored the action, contemplating her request while looking her up and down. "Let me talk to him."

"You might want to put on some clothes first, I think we have a spare pair of your mom jeans around here somewhere." Percy couldn't help but chuckle.

"Also my eye, please."

o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o

"She's awake." Loki declared to the person who entered his temporary chamber, his back towards the door as he looked out the floor to ceiling windows to the city below. Already clean up efforts were set in motion to repair the city, salvaging the remains of the Chitauri weaponry and vehicles.

"Yeah... she is." Percy said softly. He turned around at the sound of her voice which came closer as she walked up to him without any hesitation. Her hair was unkempt, there were prominent dark circles were underneath her eyes and her eyebrows sparse from a lack of makeup... once again it was as if he was seeing her for the first time. For a moment he thought of reaching to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, but at the slightest movement he was reminded of the heavy metal restraints around his wrists... reminding him he was a criminal.

"You're hurt." She remarked, focusing on one particular cut on the side of his cheek from when he had been smashed into the ground. From her lab coat pocket she removed a band-aid. She quickly undid the wrapping and reached up to Loki's face, causing him to ever so slightly recoil.

"What are you doing?"

"Putting a bandage on your face?" He remained stiff and watched curiously as her own eyes became fixated on his cheek, hands hovering for a moment as she positioned the bandage with precision to cover the small cut. He took a short, sharp breath when for just a moment her calloused fingers touched his face as they smoothed on the adhesive. From just a simple action he could feel the warmth from her skin seeping into his, nurturing and kind. Percy lowered her arms and held her hands together tightly at her chest, but did not move away. Her eyes flickered up to his own, he parted his lips slightly as to speak...

 _SLAP_

"There, it's definitely not coming off now." The corner of his mouth twitched upward to form a small smile, he suspected that she had harmed her own hand more than his face, but he admired the ferocity.

"I suppose I deserved that." He chuckled, noticing the new bandage on her neck where he had attacked her.

"You deserve more than that... but probably not as much as you're going to get."

"Has Thor told you of my fate?"

"He said that both of you are leaving, tomorrow." Percy looked away, visibly upset. "And that your crimes could be punishable by death."

"You disagree?"

"I know what I feel, and what I feel _now_ is you. Before... it was like... you were trying to transmit a signal but we didn't have an EMI filter." He raised an eyebrow at the comparison, prompting her to elaborate. "Electromagnetic interference, basically there is an external source that acts as disturbance to the current."

"And what if you are wrong?" He paced around her, watching carefully as her eyes followed him. "What would you do if all I've done was in my own image? Of my own free will?"

"I..." She hesitated, as if she had never even considered the possibility. "I'd want to know why, I'd try to understand. But I don't know if I ever could."

"To tell you such things would jeopardize your life." He replied dryly, perplexed when a small smile formed on her face.

"Are all Asgardians this vague and broody? Or is it just you guys?"

"I am _not -_!" He snapped, stopping midway when he saw her flinch from his raised voice. Her stance immediately became submissive and small, head turned downward and shoulders hunched as she took a tentative step backward. He himself felt the wave of icy cold fear that gripped her heart and spread to freeze her entire body.

He frowned at that, realizing that he had misread her before... and that this was the first time that she was truly afraid of him. And it was entirely his own fault.

"There was... an influence. But not in the manner you assume." After he had been knocked unconscious by the green beast and the Chitauri base destroyed, his connection with The Other had indeed been severed. It _had_ been Loki's desire to claim Earth for himself, that much he could admit. It was only favorable that forces more powerful than him were in desire of the Tesseract. He had watched humans for hundreds of years, he was aware of their mannerisms, their values, how easily they flocked to a strong leader with blind devotion. It should have all been simpler than this, one mighty war to claim the trust and devotion of the people in exchange for future protection against forces in the deepest of space that would cause the vulnerable planet harm.

He had never wanted to be king... not really. Not on Asgard, not Jotenheim, not even on Midgard.

But that had been his unfortunate destiny, or at least it seemed to be. Crowned king of Asgard despite disinterest, learning he was the true crown prince of Jotenheim, a realm in which he never wished to set foot in again much less spend the rest of his days. And when he was found, after falling into that cold abyss, and they had learned of his extensive knowledge of Midgard it seemed as destiny once again threw him into an unwanted line of succession.

If only the universe were to be so kind as to make up its mind for once.

Here they were, in the midst of all of his failures and shortcomings and the _one_ thing in which he always desired was in front of him. But he couldn't have her. She wouldn't want him, not if she truly knew what he was. Even now her entire demeanor towards him could be a facade, sent by Thor to ease him into a false sense of security so that he would reveal the identity of those who sent him to Earth. Persephone was _his_ soulmate, who was to say she wasn't as much of a liar as he?

"If they have sent you here to receive a confession from me, you waste your breath."

Loki turned his back to her and looked blankly out of the window once more, expecting her to leave. He immediately tensed as two arms wrapped around his front as she tightly embraced him from behind. Percy's heart thundered hard in her chest and she prayed that he couldn't feel the fast beating, but it was impossible for him to not.

"I'm here for _you_." She whispered softly, sincerity dripping with every word. Loki let out a long drawn out breath a moment later, his shoulders slacking slightly.

"Let go."

Reluctantly, Percy removed her arms, worried that she had stepped over a boundary. He turned around to face her, looking into her eyes. He was immediately drawn to her left, the rich brown pulled him in and seemed to cover his very soul in the Earth's fertile soil, full of the potential of rebirth and rejuvenation after a bitter winter's storm. In the light flecks of warm amber twinkled as if she had stolen sunlight itself.

Loki raised his handcuffed arms and lowered them around her, trapping her figure against his chest. It only took a moment for her to register the action, gently wrapping her arms around him once more. He pressed one hand against her back with an open palm and with the other took a fistful of her unruly hair, keeping her head pressed against him, lowering himself to rest his chin on top.

He closed his eyes and relished in the feeling of her body melting into his. Frigga had often showed him affection as a child and a young adult, but this felt fundamentally different than a mother's embrace.

"All my life I was led and raised to be something I wasn't." He whispered into her hair. "Then I thought I had finally found who I truly was without the hindrance of my family to interfere, redefined in my own image... but when I am with you, I am lost once more. I don't know who I am." Percy pulled back slightly, just enough to look at his face with a curious look.

"Who do you want to be?"

"That hardly matters now... my wrongdoings will forever define me."

The silence that followed was thick and tangible, but not at all unpleasant. It clung like a blanket in the air, warm and comforting and pulled the two together once more in an embrace. In that stillness they remained, clinging to each other as the world passed by.

o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o

"Is this enough of an admission?" Unbeknownst to Loki, Percy had asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to record their entire conversation. Secretly she had hoped that he would had given more up, but there was definitely enough to cast doubt that he was entirely at fault. The rest of the Avengers seemed skeptical, but they would admit that at a side by side comparison of today's recording and the one she had from Germany that his eyes had lost their prominent blue hue.

"I will gladly present this as evidence, but the decision is ultimately in the hands of the Allfather and the High Council." Thor clapped a hand on her shoulder, causing her to lose balance for a moment.

"Thank you, for trying at least."

"Will you be alright?" He asked, gripping his hand reassuringly. Percy smiled softly and patted his hand with her own, she wasn't one to cry in front of people, but it was obvious that she was hurting.

"I'm practically married to my work anyway, don't need a man coming in and ruining my routine." She turned to Tony. "That is, if I still have my job."

"I'd be a shame to break up a marriage, right Jarvis?"

"Indeed, sir."

* * *

 **A/N: AHHHHH ANOTHER CHAPTER FINALLY! Thank you for all the nice reviews once again! (Also I swear my horizontal line bar is broken so I hope you don't mind the new line breaks)**


	10. Let Us Take A Chance

**CHAPTER 10**

Loki watched contently as his mate strolled gracefully along the cobblestone path. He stood tall with hands clasped comfortably behind his back and took small, slow steps to match her leisurely pace. He stayed at her side and watched as her expression exuded a childish glee, wide eyes soaking in all of the foreign flora. Time was lost between them, the gardens themselves seeming endless twisting and turning into a denser hedge that concealed the pair from prying eyes.

"Would you care to take a rest, my dear?" He asked gently, motioning to a nearby stone bench with one hand. She nodded wordlessly and sat on the edge of the bench, looking at him expectantly to join her. In the same fluid motion that he lowered himself to sit Loki waved his hand with flourish to conjure a a small white violet in full bloom, offering it to her with an open palm. Her chest puffed briefly in amusement before gingerly plucking the flower by its petals and tucking it behind her ear.

"Loki, what are you doing?" At the sound of the unexpected voice, he reluctantly turned his head to see Frigga's looming figure standing behind him with hands folded neatly in front of her. A coy smile tugged on her lips that didn't quite meet her disapproving eyes.

"I gave my word to Lady Persephone that I would show her the royal gardens." He chuckled, as if the answer itself were obvious.

In what little time they had with one another they had spoken of many nothings. Peresphone had a vague understanding of Asgard and the Nine Realms from her time spent in Thor's company, but strangely had insisted she was much more curious about knowing his personal favorite places. He spoke of the stables and the library with a certain fondness, but at the mention of the garden her smile had grown a fraction wider. Apparently she had an intimate infatuation with flowers that no one else knew about, expect now for him of course. She spoke with a certain bitterness how people wrongly assumed she 'wasn't a flower type of girl' all her life.

He knew it had been an empty promise.

"Does this truly make you happy?" Loki's smirk faltered, eyes flickering to the ground as he ever so slightly shook his head back and forth.

"It certainly doesn't make me feel worse." He turned his gaze back to his mate, who was silent and smiling with a faint twinkle in her eye with flushed cheeks. Yet there was something in her stare that held remarkable sorrow, one quirk he still had not managed to perfect.

"Cast enough illusions and you risk forgetting what is real."

"Precisely." He raised a hand to stroke Persephone's face but simply phased through, her persona and the garden disappearing in a shimmer of green to reveal his stark white prison cell.

"Am I to assume the books I sent for are not enough to entertain you?" Loki rose from the edge of his new bed and paced around Frigga. In truth, she had been watching her son for hours before she had made her presence known. Not as if he would have noticed her anyway with the thick delusions he had created to distract himself from his reality. It had started off small, he was reclined in the chair while flipping through one of the editions of Asgard's history before he casually removed his feet from the footrest and moved the piece of furniture a few inches away. A moment later a near perfect image of Persephone was sat casually on the footrest, looking at him contently as he began to read the contents of the book aloud.

Sitting soon turned to walking, the illusion casually examining the contents of the cell... until the cell itself disappeared into a reproduction of his bedroom, the palace hallways, what appeared to be a laboratory on Earth. He had changed her appearance several times as well, varying the length of her hair and imagining her in both Midgardian and Asgardian garb as if she were a doll. Loki must have been exhausted at the point Frigga finally decided to intervene, but if he was it did not show.

"I have spent the entirety of my adolescence reading, must I spend my remaining years doing the same?"

"I have done everything within my power to make you comfortable, Loki."

"Indeed, it is a _cozy_ cell."

"She is quite the vision." Frigga complimented, looking at the spot on the bed in which the illusion of the human had been a moment ago. The slight sag in her son's shoulders was not missed. "And must care quite deeply for you."

"Do not allow illusions to fool _you,_ mother..." He chided, "she does not care for me."

"Yet strove to prove your innocence, in spite of the lives you took and destruction you wrought on her home." The look of confusion was clear on Loki's face, he hadn't the faintest idea of what Frigga was referring to. "The recordings? Presented as evidence to lessen your punishment."

"Little shill..." He muttered under his breath. Peresphone _had_ been toying with him, trying to elicit answers and prompted responses... he wasn't sure if he should feel betrayed or impressed.

"Do not forget it was I who never gave up the hope that you still lived, that I was the one to find you in _his_ presence." The allusion to the Titan was enough to force him into silence with gritted teeth. Sooner or later he would _pay_ for his failure on Earth, that much was inevitable. Most likely the timing of his demise would depend solely on convenience for The Other... he cared not to ponder the torment that would be destined for him if he were to breathe a single word of what he had seen, what very little he knew of the Order. "No more lies, Loki."

His own death was inevitable. Perhaps it was better for his death to be on Asgard, a swift swing of the axe was far more appealing than the alternatives. Beyond that, he knew the grounds of the prisons and castles better than the guards who patrolled their pathways. How weak had his resolve already become? From the relentless pursuit of a throne to the the fantasy of spending the rest of his years posing as a peasant on that pitifully blue planet.

This wasn't his fault.

It was Odin who had groomed him under the pretense of kinship yet showered what little affection he could muster onto Thor.

It was Frigga who had placed Gungnir in his hand against his own wishes... how could it had been his fault that he enjoyed the weight of a king's weapon?

If it weren't for _Thor_ invading Jotenheim none of this would have come to fruition.

 _'Til death do us part..._

Surely she would have said those words otherwise, if another path had been sown. Fate could not have demanded _this_ for their shared destiny, the stars stretching their bond so taut that it was little better than death. He had to believe that some ounce of the words of comfort and tenderness she had offered him whilst he was chained like a criminal were true, if only for his own sanity. He had to believe that he would not die within these walls, that perhaps the pained separation would ache her heart like it did his and when they reunited she would fall into his arms without hesitation... she would be ready to live by the words she had inscribed on his leg.

He would keep himself _alive_.

"You of all should know I am incapable of such sincerity." The words poured like venom off his tongue.

"What I know is that this be temporary. If you are to admit your faults as a true _king_ would."

"Do not speak as if Odin himself has not caused more bloodshed in his own conquests to bring about the illusion of peace amongst the realms."

"Your father -"

"He's not my father!" He snapped, stunning Frigga into silence. A small watery smile made its way to her face, the last time he dared raise his tone with her had been a lifetime ago when he was a young boy learning magic. Prone to his temper tantrums... some things never change.

"And yet, you call me mother."

"How perceptive of you." He did not have it in his heart to deny it, moving to place his hands in the ones outstretched to him... but once again they faded through and the illusion was gone.


	11. On Happiness

"Can't he pick up trash on the intergalactic highway or something? Preferably somewhere without oxygen?" Clint's eyes were shooting daggers at the raven haired Asgardian who had an _almost_ sheepish smile. Despite the chains dangling from his wrists and ankles he seemed perfectly lax and amused standing next to Thor who had his own prideful grin on his face. Clint and Steve had just so happened to be treating themselves to a post-workout snack in the penthouse when the freak thunderstorm roared to life above the tower, the former actually dropping the chocolate chip cookie in his hand at the sight of the two gods exiting the Bifrost on the balcony.

If possible, loosing that baked good had placed him in an even _worse_ mood.

"Arguably, that _is_ my intended duty." Loki smiled, oh boy did he just want to punch him in those perfect teeth.

Steve had assumed that J.A.R.V.I.S. would have alerted Tony by now to their new visitors, and just when he began to wonder where the eccentric billionaire was the penthouse elevator doors opened. Fully suited up, with the exception of the helmet tucked under his arm, was Iron Man himself trying his best to walk casually into the room while the mechanical whirring of the moving joints echoed in the silence. Thor greeted him, completely oblivious to the tension in the room.

"Stark! Wonderful news! Enough proof has come to light to suspect Loki was not of sane mind during his attack. If he proves himself a useful asset to the Earth, there is the possibility that he with regain his title once more." Thor declared and roughly clapped a hand on Loki's shoulder, causing him to stumble. "It will benefit him as much as it will your cause."

"You know, it'd be real neighborly to send a warning before popping up with _that_."

"I'll take note to have a raven sent next time." Loki then turned to Thor, with hands outstretched expectantly. "If you would be so kind, _brother_ of mine."

"We should discuss this with the whole team present." Steve stated decidedly as Thor proceeded to undo the shackles. "Conference room, five minutes."

Tony nodded and began to head back down to the lab. He had been wearing the armor a lot more lately and frankly the chaffing was starting to get near awful. To think he put it on for nothing.

"Where is she?"

"Working." He looked over his shoulder at Loki, a hint of anger on the god's face that he was poorly trying to hide.

"You _still_ think I would cause her harm?"

"She's on the clock, and don't think I'm paying her to canoodle."

"60th floor." Tony gaped at Steve, throwing up his hands in the air as if to silent say, _dude what the hell_. "The foundation of a team is trust, and that's a two way street. That being said, don't be late."

Back in his time, soulmate pairings seemed more like convenience than anything. Ordinarily it was the case of a girl who lived down the block, or in a couple of cases of the soldiers he had in his company was the very vague, _t_ _hank you for your service._ It still marveled him to the extent that modern transportation had allowed marks to increase in popularity. Of course he had never really given thought to soulmates that weren't even the same species... but he didn't think he was the only one grappling with that particular idea.

The only reason she was even on that floor had been because of Clint. The man had _supposedly_ been checking all possible points of escape from the tower that could be useful in the event of an attack. In the process of shimmying around the air ducts, he had knocked part of the HVAC configuration loose and killed the air conditioning for the whole floor. Considering it just happened to be a sweltering hot summer afternoon, Percy was less than pleased and insisted on fixing the unit herself instead of waiting for a repair man.

* * *

After exiting to the proper floor, Loki was met by the rolling heat wave that seemed an entirely different environment to the elevator. He simply followed the faint sound of mechanical whirring and clattering metal to be presented with a most peculiar sight.

The young woman was standing perched on the shoulders of one of the Iron Man suits, a different model to that he saw on Stark but a moment ago. The suit's hands raised above its head to firmly hold her waist in place, and her top half completely disappeared into the ceiling where sounds of sparking and banging were originating. Despite having her back faced towards him, the pair of black shorts she happened to be sporting to combat the heat helped to effortlessly to identify her. Loki wasn't aware he would feel such a rush of possessiveness at the sight of his penmanship on her body, but there it was... unintentionally presented before him.

"Alright J, I think I've got it. Turn it on." The humming of the air conditioning switched on and a powerful gust of cold air rushed through the vents. Percy let out a loud groan of relief and remained hoisted up in direct flow of the air current for a solid thirty seconds until asking the metal suit to lower her back down. He swallowed thickly at the sight, the white tank top she happened to be wearing was doing wonders for his curiosity. His eyes were immediately drawn to the simple tattoo on the back of her upper left arm, it was the outline of a heart symbol done in red ink roughly the size of his palm. The Norns were surely testing him.

"Miss Evans, you have a visitor." The voice from the suit announced as she lazily began to put her tools back into the nearby cart and gave a small hum of acknowledgement. Loki eyed the metal man as it stepped closer and reached for the grease-stained lab coat that had been thrown haphazardly on the floor. Once she finally locked up the cart and turned around...

She screamed.

"Not quite the reaction I was expecting." He chuckled. Percy had one hand over her heart and another over her mouth, shaking off the shock. The suit held the coat up to her by the collar, prompting her to quickly slide her arms in and wrap the material around her body tightly. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before placing a hand on the suit's arm.

"Jarvis, I'm going to take my break now. How about you bring the suit back down to the lab."

"I am perfectly content staying here to further assist you if the opportunity should arise."

"I'm good, Jarvis." Their eye contact was broken as the suit now situated itself in front of her, effectively blocking her from moving forward.

"From my analysis there is a eighty-seven percent chance, rounded to the nearest integer, that - " She held a finger up to the slit of the face plate.

"Don't make me ask twice."

"Of course... ma'am." Both of them watched as the suit slowly left the room, leaving them alone at last. She was still shaking slightly, gripping the collar of the coat to regain some modesty.

"How are you... why are you... are you..."

"Are you going to finish any of those questions, my dear?" He stepped closer with outstretched arms and open palms, leaving the decision of taking his hands up to her. Percy copied the gesture, pausing for a moment and hovering her own hands above his before bringing them down to make contact. Loki noticed her slight involuntary twitch as he stroked the back of her hands with his thumbs. He tightened his grip as Percy started to pull away and leaned down so that his mouth was next to her ear. "You know, it's terribly _rude_ to manipulate people... I didn't think you the sort."

"In this case... I would think the ends justify the means."

"I believed those moments to be our finals ones together, intimate and honest. Not to be scrutinized by a council of elders."

"I only did it for you! You're alive, aren't you? You - you're _here_ , not in space jail."

"Space jail was actually quite comfortable." Percy rolled her eyes and tried once more to pull her hands back, but he kept a firm grip. "Yet, no comfort I have ever known in my life could compare to..." A small, genuine smile crept onto his face as he gave another gentle squeeze to their joined hands. No illusion could ever replicate the true feeling of her touch.

"I would hug you, but I'm really sweaty."

"I am content with this, for now."

"How are your hands so cold?!" She whispered mostly to herself while regarding his heavy leather attire, not noticing Loki's shoulders slightly tense. "Here I am partially soaked wearing basically nothing, and you're not even breaking a sweat! You're making me look bad."

"In your defense dear, manual labor will have that effect."

"Oh, I'm sure you'd know _all_ about that, _your highness_." Loki gently released on of his hands from hers and placed it on his chest, feigning harm.

"Sir, you presence is requested in the conference room." The British voice echoed from above, while Loki briefly searched for the source, his expression quickly soured. Percy smiled gently and squeezed his hand.

"That's alright. I'm gonna grab a quick shower and change into some actual clothes." He allowed her to lead him back to the elevator, pressing two different floor buttons.

"Jarvis is a sort of program, I take it?"

"Tony's AI. He pretty much runs the tower, we just got him to fully control the Iron Man suits about a month ago which is exciting."

"It seemed reluctant to leave us alone."

"He never left us alone." She waved the corner of the elevator at the small security camera. "I try not to think about it, but they're definite Big Brother vibes."

"My surveillance is purely to ensure the safety of Stark Industries' employees."

"Not helping, Jarvis." Quicker than he would have liked, the doors opened and Percy nudged her head.

"Conference room is to the left, three doors down." He thanked her, raising her hand to barely brush her lips across her knuckles. He was about to exit the elevator when she caught his arm, and craned his head around to look at her. "How long are you staying?"

"Possibly a lifetime." She seemed satisfied with that answer, grin growing even wider.

"I, uh, will... yeah, look forward to that."

* * *

"Here on good ole' Earth, we have something called house arrest." Tony said from the head of the oblong table with his feet kicked up.

"I'm well aware of the concept."

"Then we shouldn't have to explain ourselves." Clint grabbed Loki's right hand in what appeared to be a rough handshake, but quickly used his other hand to place a metal bracelet on his wrist. The metal automatically locked itself tightly against his skin. "But just so we're clear... anything _remotely_ suspicious and thirty hundred volts of electricity will worm it's way through your weasley ass."

"I remember such wonderful weaponry! I believe Lady Darcy referred to is as a taser."

" _Liiiittle_ bit more juice than that, I myself was a fan of the muscle relaxant injection needles."

"And who exactly holds the whip? Or will all six of you take turns for amusement?"

"None of us. You're here to be useful, not another liability to track." Steve interjected sternly, standing tall with his arms crossed "Jarvis will monitor all activity in the Tower, on missions you will be paired with at least one of us as a supervisor and outfitted for surveillance equipment that will make Jarvis aware of your every move."

"A pleasure to be of service, sir." The mechanical voice from the ceiling imitated a cheerful tone.

"Ah." Loki looked between the metal around his wrist and the security camera on the wall pointed directly at him. "That is much worse."

"Fortunately, SHIELD recently got a lead for something that would fit nicely with your particular skill set." Tony tapped the surface of the table to project several files, photographs and videos of a stocky middle-aged man. "Darian Szell, run of the mill weapons dealer and smuggler, guys like him are a dime a dozen. But word's gotten around that he's been distributing somewhat of a higher caliper product of late."

"Chitauri weaponry." Loki breathed, eyeing one particular video clip of a small revolt turned catastrophic from the advanced firepower the attackers possessed.

"Believe it or not this isn't just about karma. We'll want to keep a low profile, sneak into the vault in and out to survey the scale of his operation... maybe place a few trackers." With a wave of his hand Tony enlarged a scale model of a small villa off the coast of the Galapagos Islands. "He's holding something of a housewarming next Thursday, and we managed to snag an invitation."

"With a plus one." Natasha said, looking to him expectantly.

"You?" Loki scoffed, "Perhaps you _were_ a wonderful spy, but I would assume your recent heroic deeds has given your face more value."

"You'd be surprised the wonders makeup and wigs can do... and trust me, men like these aren't exactly going to be paying attention to my face."

"You and Nat can get buddy-buddy with the details later," Tony continued. "Living quarters on the 63rd floor, your room's between Thor and P. If you've got questions bother Jarvis, not us."

"Persephone resides here?"

"She stays the nights when she works late, which is most nights." It had been on Jarvis' insistence that it was unsafe for her to walk back nearly twenty blocks to her apartment so late at night. The subway was almost even less ideal, the crime rates of slashers and rapists who were caught in subways stations during late hours were troubling to say the least... and Percy refused to drive in the city.

"So should I just double the dinner order or..." All eyes turned to Clint who was scrolling through his phone at the online delivery service. Noticing all the judgmental stares and Natasha's eye roll, he held his hands up and shrugged. "What? You can't tell me I'm the only one that's starving."

* * *

"That's quite an abundance of food." Loki regarded as he strolled into the kitchen area. He had spent quite a long time wandering about as J.A.R.V.I.S. had been remarkably unhelpful in assisting him locate Persephone. She raised her head and smiled at him, she had redressed into a pair of highwaisted jeans and a black blouse with a silver rose brooch attached.

"Friday's Chinese takeout night, but I always insist on making the dumplings." Percy expertly folded the dough onto itself in seven evenly spaced pleats to encase the filling inside before placing a spoonful of filling into the next wrapper, repeating the process. She glanced at Loki, who was standing on the other side of the counter quietly watching her hands at work.

It was her habit to make about a hundred at a time, but those large batches had been stuck into the freezer and eaten across the span of months. Even if they were just the appetizer to the meal just _five_ of the Avengers were able to eat near that amount in one sitting. She had felt particular pride when Steve had offered to give more foreign cuisine an honest shot and practically inhaled her cooking, claiming that the homemade version was much better than the delivery. She had made closer to two hundred for tonight, the memory of Thor's appetite was impressive and frightening at the same time. And that was when he was _human_ , how other-worldly would his _Asgardian_ appetite be?

She looked to Loki again and felt the color drain from her face. _Two Asgardians..._ He noticed her stare and raised an eyebrow, silently asking for her to speak her mind.

"Please tell me you don't eat as much as Thor." Percy said in a near terrified whisper, earning a throaty chuckle from her companion.

"Not quite, no." Percy nodded and finished folding the pleats on the last dumpling wrapper from the package and placed it with the others. She then turned around to the sink and rinsed her hands of the floury residue of the dough, drying them on a nearby washcloth.

"Is it new, the tattoo?"

"Yeah, thought it looked nice." She seemed rather flustered. It was a difficult balance, he had waited well over a thousand years... part of him felt that he had waited long enough and _deserved_ her unconditional affection. The other part that was winning by just a hair reasoned that he could wait just a tad longer to earn her trust. She had every reason to be tentative.

"I'm quite partial to the one on your leg." He teased, stepping closer and leaning against the counter. "However, I believe there is a saying, 'absence makes the _heart_ grow fonder.'" He lifted his hand and from his fingertips appeared a small flower. Her eyes flickered from the offering to his smug face a couple times in stunned silence... before she started to uncontrollably kneel over in laughter. The giggles that she was trying to suppress with a hand over her mouth made a lovely sound that should have filled him with pride, but at the moment he was simply confused on what she found so amusing.

"Y-You... I thought - pfft!" She stammered for a moment between breaths before regaining some composure and shoved both hands into her pockets, an almost painfully wide smile on her face. "I thought you were a _master of illusion_ , not a birthday magician!"

"It is not a simple parlor trick."

"Uh-huh." Percy said unconvinced. She raised her arm and barely brushed his ear before twirling her hand around to reveal a silver coin in per fingers, poised dramatically for him to see. " _Magic..._ " She whispered sarcastic wonder before pocketing the coin again. He rolled his eyes at her slight of hand.

"Is this the typical response of human women when they are being seduced?" The violet vanished between his fingers, he had even gone through the effort to make the illusion tactile. She scoffed loudly, but Loki couldn't help but genuinely grin at her relaxed body language. It appeared that humor and quips would be his greatest ally in these treacherous waters.

"I'm sorry, does that little trick usually work for you?"

"Indeed it has, once."

"Well whoever she was, wasn't me."

"No, I suppose she wasn't." He pondered wistfully, before turning back to her with a false accusatory tone. "You said you were fond of flowers."

"I am, violets are just kind of... underwhelming."

"I believe they are one of the handful that our worlds share in common."

"Do you know the significance of a white violet?"

"Based off the color and human tradition, innocence or purity I would presume."

"No, that would be lilies or carnations. Roses too maybe, it's either that or something about worthiness."

"Then, pray tell."

"All I'll say is that... I accept the offer."

* * *

 **A/N: Disclaimer, all I know about flowers is completely based on thelanguageofflowers website, if I get something wrong please do correct me.**

 **I bet you thought I was gonna go all Dark World on you, but nope.**


	12. Won't You Wine with Me?

"I'm heading out, see you Monday." Percy called, hardly looking back in her half jog towards the elevator. She didn't get very far though, before an already familiar hand wrapped around her wrist.

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah that's what..." She pointed her thumb towards the elevator. "heading out means."

"Why not stay?"

"I'm not scheduled to work this weekend."

"I am not referring to your employment obligations."

"Let's get one thing straight." Percy stretched her arms wide and gestured in a circle. " _This_ is my workplace, and if we're going to try a fresh start _you're_ now a work colleague."

"Not a fan of mixing work and pleasure?"

"There's not a whole lot of pleasure for me to mix, usually."

"So it is through your _strictly professional_ relationship that you share meals with your employer. Not to mention spend nights, in your _workplace_ , with Thor during his little visits over the past few months."

"Have you been _stalking_ me?"

"On the contrary, Thor thought it appropriate to inform me of instances in which the two of you have been alone."

"Why?" She asked in an equally accusatory tone, but her disdain didn't seem to phase Loki, who merely shrugged.

"Common courtesy I suppose, not that he's ever shown it before."

"He is a bit... brash..." She bit the inside of her cheek, unable to think of a better word. "But still, keeping tabs on me like that is a bit possessive, don't you think?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" Loki tilted his head curiously.

"Work. Colleague." Percy reminded, enunciating each syllable pointedly.

"You truly think you can keep up a purely professional relationship?"

"I can try, can you?"

"If that is what you wish." Loki muttered with resignation. Percy looked at him skeptically, not quite believing that it had been that easy. She began to walk past him toward the elevator once more, but was stopped by him lightly wrapping one arm around her shoulders. "In exchange for my professionalism, however... you must stay tonight."

"Now that makes no sense." She argued, scrunching up her nose.

"It makes perfect sense. One night of simple, candid conversation."

"Why do I feel like this is a trick?" She challenged, grabbing his arm by the wrist and gently removing it from her.

"Because you're my other half. That makes you clever." He smirked. Percy had an idea of what his MO was, but Loki proved incredibly hard for her to read. During dinner he had begun a calculated set of maneuvers to minimize space between them, bumping elbows and brushing fingers while passing dishes back and forth. Increased small physical contact, keeping close proximity... He was betting on the newfound force of their bond to be too much for her to ignore, and damn was it working. Percy let out a huff and lowered her eyes to the ground.

"Jarvis, I need a map with a five block radius." The vision in her right eye was immediately replaced with just that. Leafing through all the nearby businesses she finally found what she had been looking for and had J.A.R.V.I.S. map out a walking route to the store. She all but tossed her shoulder bag onto the counter while shoving past Loki to the elevator. "I'll be back in fifteen minutes."

* * *

"You're late." Loki chided from the sofa as the elevator doors opened once again. Percy looked at the time from the microwave and rolled her eyes at him once seeing that nearly seventeen minutes had passed. She set her recent purchased on the counter before searching through the cupboards, quickly scanning the contents before finding what she needed. Of course, when she did find them, they were out of her reach.

"Can you grab two from the top?" She called to Loki, who nodded and made his way toward the kitchen area, easily reaching for two of the narrow stemmed wine glasses and closing the cabinet door. Percy pulled out the multitool from her bag and began to pry open the bottle with the corkscrew attachment, an audible pop echoing in the room as she removed the cork.

"Viking Blod Mead?" Loki read the label from over her shoulder and placed the glasses down on the countertop.

"Bought it once on a whim, lovely hibiscus flavor." Percy commented while filling both of the glasses with the amber liquid, the irony of her drink of choice not lost on her. She palmed both glasses, offering one to him. His pale, slender fingers wrapped around the stem and lifted the drink to meet his eyesight, swirling it around in vague curiosity. "Cheers."

"To health and happiness." He offered, the two raised their glasses simultaneously towards one another until they clinked.

"That's probably a good place to start." Percy raised the glass to her lips and took a rather sizable gulp, the pleasant taste of fruit and honey dulling the sting from the alcohol. She watched as Loki took a more tentative sip, swirling the liquid in his mouth for a moment before finding it agreeable.

"Perhaps our conversation is better suited for the couch."

"Yeah..." Percy brought her free hand up to rub the back of her neck, which was craned at a steep angle to look at his face. "You're too tall."

"From what I recall the night we met, you tend to wear an impressive heel. I am a perfectly acceptable height under such circumstance." Loki moved his hand to cover hers, a violent chill spreading throughout her body, just like the other times their skin met. It was so contradictory how the sensation was so horrifying and blissful at the same time. "I merely thought you would prefer to sit, given how much you're shaking."

Of course he was right, with the added weight of his own steady hand it was even more obvious how she was practically vibrating from nervous jitters. Percy took another long sip of wine before nodding and allowing him to lead her away from the kitchen. She was slightly surprised when he sat on the opposite end of the loveseat, leaving nearly a foot of room between them.

"The last time I had a drink in my hand was the day of Thor's coronation." He said wistfully, twirling the glass in his hand. His face twitched to a pained smile, and Percy could feel her own chest tighten... almost as if he was in mourning.

"My sister's wedding." She countered, piquing Loki's interest.

"Elder?"

"Younger, by four years." Percy chuckled at the memories of the full year of wedding preparations. "She wanted to have the ceremony here in the city, but all of Klaus' family lived in Stuttgart."

"I see." He said slowly, quickly interpreting what she was eluding to.

"I told her I had to leave early because I got called into work... which wasn't a complete lie."

"Have you told her?"

"What? About you?" Percy snorted, shaking her head aggressively. "Where would I even start? _My_ head's still spinning just thinking about it."

Her gaze uncomfortable slid to the floor as she took another sip from her glass. She then took in a deep breath, placing all her focus on the path the air took from her nose down to her expanding stomach... then out again. She then mentally scanned her body and made the conscious effort to untense all the little muscles that she could, from the curling of her toes to the clenching of her jaw.

Percy wasn't quite sure how old Loki exactly was... she placed him around early or mid-thirties, so not that much older than her. She already struggled with picking up social cues and finding the best way to talk to people, her humor and commentary usually a bit dark and blunt for most people's taste, but he was entirely something else. She never thought of herself as discriminatory, but she had at _least_ assumed that her soulmate would have been human. If she was quite honest, she had spent the past few months completely avoiding any thought of Loki, the 'if's and 'could-have-been's had plagued her with a deep feeling of dread. So, she blocked off every thought with endless work. J.A.R.V.I.S. was probably the only reason she hadn't worked herself to starvation, physically locking her out of the laboratory, sending interns to order lunch, playing sleep-inducing melodies over the stereos...

"I would like to keep our _connection_ a secret, if that is agreeable with you." But now, Loki was here, and she couldn't run back to her work anymore.

"Perfectly fine." Percy swallowed thickly, undoing the top button on her shirt that suddenly felt a bit too tight.

"It's not as if I am ashamed." Loki defended, as if he could read her thoughts. "It should be no surprise I've created quite a few enemies for myself, and you my dear would be an easy target to me."

"Why would you be ashamed? I'm just a _freakish plaything_." Percy scoffed.

"Using my past words against me?"

"I think they were more against me." She couldn't help but rub her right temple, halfheartedly hiding her prosthetic. Loki had yet to say anything about it, but she could sense him staring even when they first met. All the insecurities from when she had first been in the accident came rushing back, whether he thought of her as less than, or as someone to pity... it struck a personal nerve. "I mean, that's what you really think, isn't it? That I'm just some novelty for you to collect, the small little human woman that you get to keep like some sort of prize."

There was a beat of silence. She half regretted her words, but she couldn't help as they fell out of her mouth without much thought or care. Loki took in a ragged breath, a snicker forcing its way out as he exhaled with a sad smile on his face.

"I'm sorry." Percy did a mental double take, lowering the glass that had just made contact with her lips. "That never has, and never will be my intention with you. If I have acted in such a way to make you believe such things, grant me the honor of the chance to prove you wrong."

"You mean it." Her statement was hardly audible. Percy bit her inner lip in discomfort as her heart raced, still not used to feeling such genuine emotion. Even if it weren't for the serious conviction in his tone or the sternness of his brow as he spoke, she could just feel it. It was so very close to being overwhelming, but she could also see the addictive aspects.

"You cannot fathom how many eons I have waited," He reached over to her side easily and lightly grasped her free hand, giving it a hard squeeze. "and I will _not_ be letting you go." Percy tightened her grip around his hand once before pulling away. She took the nearly empty glass from his other hand and stoop up from the couch, making her way back to the counter.

"It takes two people to form a relationship, you know." Percy sighed while refilling the drinks, Loki thanked her as she handed him the wine. He chuckled and slightly shook his head side to side.

"Darling, you've loved me your entire life. It is only inevitable you will again." Percy couldn't help a smile tug at her lips as she looked at Loki's own charming grin.

"I was _infatuated_ with the _idea_ of my soulmate. Big difference."

"So you'll admit you have loved the idea of me?"

"I thought I would've..." Percy struggled with the next syllable, that four letter word seemed too foreign and so very _big_ to be throwing around casually. She raked a hand through her hair, tugging at the roots uncomfortably as she felt his eyes examining her. "I don't know! I just always kind of assumed that I wouldn't have to think too much about it, that the _feelings_ would just be there from the start."

Her mind quickly flashed to Cora and Klaus, how they had been practically sobbing in each other's arms the moment they met, nearly inseparable ever since. But is that what _she_ wanted?

"Something... comfortable, and reliable." Percy began to ramble, hardly aware she was still speaking. "Something you'd always want to go back to."

"But we can have that, you and I. Fate deemed us to meet _then_ , in that particular moment in both our lives." Loki argued, slowly growing more irritable. "How often is it that soulmates have met before they have become aware of another? We met then because that was when it _needed_ to be."

"Or, we met 'cause I threw a coin in a fountain." Percy smirked while taking another sip, unable to resist teasing him. "Equally possible."

"By the Norns, woman..." He let out a pained laugh, fully turning his body towards her as he spoke. "I can be whatever you wish. A lover, a life partner, your god, your slave... you need only ask and it shall be done."

"What do you want?" She asked gently, not exactly sure how to respond.

"More than a work colleague."

"I've never been in a relationship before." She admitted. "Not even sure I know what love is supposed to feel like."

"That's a tad surprising, I was led to assume your kind pursue multiple romantic relationships before marriage."

"Never saw the need to look for one and no one decent ever asked." She said plainly, racking her memories for some sense of fond emotion. "I mean, I love my sister... but family love is more of something you're forced into, you know?"

"I would argue that this situation is remarkably similar."

"I disagree." She commented, furrowing her brow. "Maybe we're better suited for each other than others, but I feel like there is always a choice."

"That's incredibly naive." Loki laughed.

"Excuse me?" Percy's eyes widened in mild surprise.

"Forces more powerful than either of our imaginations have intervened and destined us together. Any illusion you have of _choice_ will only bring you misfortune and agony, so do not take my patience with you to mean anything more than a kindness. From the day that you were born, you became my intended."

"You don't know anything about me!" She argued, while Loki merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Couples have been wed with less meetings."

"Woah, woah, woah." Percy raised her hand up in a _stop talking_ motion. "Take me out to dinner at least before proposing."

Loki laughed, the sound involuntarily causing Percy's lip to curve upward.

"Out of the context, I do treasure your words." Loki set his glass on the coffee table and slowly rolled up his pant leg past his knee, tilting the appendage until Percy could see her lazy script was scrawled across. "Your penmanship, on the other hand, is appalling."

"Mmmmm..." She hummed in agreement. Part of her felt guilty with how poorly her loopy chicken scratches fit on his ivory skin, but at least the subject matter was pleasant. "I've been working on it."

* * *

Hours passed by unnoticed, the bottle of mead empty and somehow in her tiredness Percy had decided to lay across the sofa with her head in Loki's lap. She stared at the ceiling dreamily while he carefully ran a hand through her hair, careful not to tug at the many kinks of her curls.

"So what exactly can you do?"

"Now where's the mystery of simply telling you?" Percy turned her head at the sound of Loki's voice, which was coming from a clone in the kitchen. Even though it seemed perfectly three dimensional, something about the clone reminded her more of a cardboard cutout than an actual person.

"Come on, I've seen that before. Looks fake anyway - " She rolled her head back to look at him, but it was no longer Loki who held her in his lap, but Thor. A pit immediately formed in her stomach at the sight, but with the soft glow in his eyes and the gentleness of the tugs at her hair, she relaxed back into the touch. "That's... a bit more convincing."

"In what way does Loki's clone look _fake_?" He even mimicked his brothers gruff voice perfectly, taking the small nuance pauses in his speech pattern. Percy raised a hand to cup his cheek, face twinging in mild surprise as she felt the texture of the stubbly beard. With a wave of green light, the texture was gone and replaced with the smooth milky skin of Loki.

"I can't describe it, like it's just the slightest bit transparent? Almost ethereal." She rubbed her thumb across his cheek before lowering her arm back down to her lap. "And even with that, I'll admit it's pretty good. But I still _know_ it's you."

"I can physically become anything as long as it is myself, transformation magic on other living creatures can be... temperamental." Loki smiled in memory of the instance that he had transformed Thor into a frog, he had a feeling she would enjoy to hear that story. "Now, Persephone. I believe it is your turn to share."

"Hmm?" She hummed lazily. Her eyes were flickering in fatigue and pouted as she felt his hand leave her scalp. She flinched in surprise as cool fingers delicately danced across her throat, her body tensed at the unfamiliar sensation. "Uh yes, that's my neck."

"You have many scars. They are not, I think, solely from me."

"Are they still that noticeable?" Percy asked with concern, her hand automatically went to cover one of the larger marks in the middle of her jugular notch. They adorned her neck haphazardly in the same manner of freckles. The little cuts and burns here and there where the scar tissue had healed a paler color.

"Not to the passing eye, no."

"I, uh... used to work for my uncle. He's mostly a mechanic, but has a little blacksmith setup on the side. Kitchen knives, horseshoes, small stuff." Loki's hand shifted once again, this time moving to cup her cheek, and she eagerly leaned into his touch. "It's kinda dangerous, hot metal and sparks flying, even when you've got all the safety gear on little chips of metal can hit your skin."

"Such work must be physically demanding of you."

"I'm stronger than I look." She shrugged. Truth be told she was slower than the other shop hands, but that was through the combination of her constant need to triple check measurements and needed to climb a step ladder to reach the controls for most machines.

"I'm certain you are." He praised, before his attention shifted to her clothed stomach. The sudden shift in his demeanor was just shy of sending chills down Percy's spine. "As much as I despise Thor, I am indebted to him for saving you that day."

"Do you think it would have made a difference? If we had said something that first time we met?" She mumbled sleepily, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Without a single doubt in my mind." He whispered, gingerly placing his open palm directly over the location of the scar. It pained him that the misfortunes he had inflicted seemed to come in sets of threes. Three attempts on her life, and three markings on her body... "I'm not the man I used to be, I'm afraid to disappoint."

"Everyone changes, maybe it just takes gods a little longer than us regular people." She said softly, placing her hand on top to intertwine their fingers. "You think you know what's coming, and life decides to fuck it all up... the way you adapt from that is what defines you."

"I didn't strike you as an optimist." He quipped solemnly.

"I'm not. But after sooo many women empowerment seminars, you get kinda preachy." Her joke fell flat, and Percy could sense his mind wandering to somewhere dark. "I do believe that, though. And in you."

She opened her eyes once again and rolled her head to take a better look at his serious face that just begged the silent question... _why?_

"You've suffered, these past few years. You felt so far away, so much farther." Percy slurred out groggily, not noticing how Loki's body tensed.

"Those are times I cannot speak of." He stated coldly.

"Then don't." She shrugged. "Your past is your own, whatever. But I-I want to be part of your future."

"Are you positive that isn't the wine speaking for you, my dear?"

"I like it when you call me that." Percy chuckled, neither confirming nor denying. "No one's ever called me that."

"I understand that you prefer 'Percy', but the sound of your name is too lovely. Persephone..."

"Only when it comes from you, Loki." His smile grew just a fraction wider, realizing that this had been the first time she had called him by name.


	13. Agent of SHIELD

Chapter 13

 _How did you sink so low?_

It was a question that Loki fully knew the answer to, and yet here he was... still staring at his reflection in the private jet's bathroom as a gentle turbulence subtlety swayed the aircraft back and forth. As much as he detested the thought of paying off his debts to humanity through laboring as an agent, anything would be more palatable than spending another waking moment alone in that empty tower. It had only been two days since Persephone had left for a work excursion, two measly days out of centuries of waiting.

And the silence was maddening.

Not that the woman herself wasn't maddening enough. Every single day of the week she ran around the tower like clockwork, engrossed in whatever research she was pursuing that Loki was not _allowed_ to be present for, according to the machine J.A.R.V.I.S. It was belittling to their bond that he found pleasure during instances Persephone allowed him to sit in the laboratory with her while pouring over hundreds of thousands of data points on graphs that stretched as tall as the walls.

How could someone like him be matched to one with such an appalling work ethic?

"We're fifteen out." Natasha called from the other side of the door. "Hope you're dressed at least."

Loki gave himself one last look over in the small mirror and tightened the knot on the skinny grey tie. He had originally insisted that purchasing an outfit for the assignment wasn't necessary, but shortly after getting dressed he remarked that the suit issued by SHIELD only had the appearance of cloth with lightweight metal woven between the layers. It was _almost_ reassuring that they seemed to place some value on his life. But it was equally apparent to him that occasionally his tie pin would emit a small mechanical noise, and whether its intention was to monitor himself or to gather evidence remained to be seen.

"Well, you should fit in nicely." Natasha remarked without much emotion as he exited the bathroom, she had made herself rather comfortable in the large reclining seats.

"I'll accept that as a compliment, Agent Romanoff." Loki took a moment to regard her change of appearance. The dark wig was a nice touch, after all the Black Widow was infamous for her fiery red hair. He himself was dressed completely in black and dark grey without any personal alterations to his appearance.

It was difficult to fight his poor view of Midgarians and their lack of awareness towards any power greater than themselves when it was proven that not one would recognize himself as the man who not too long ago attempted to enslave them all. SHIELD attributed this anonymity to their own censorship of any footage sporting his image, but Loki's skeptical side was fully aware of how easily humans were distracted from tragedy.

"I figured brunettes are more your type." She snickered.

"Whatever _type_ I could have, would not include you." Loki said coldly. He stroked his cheek with the pads of his fingers, tracing where Persephone's lips had been a few days ago. She had pecked him awkwardly on the cheek with a remark of good fortune before setting off on her trip. "If we are to be... _partners_ , I believe now would as good a time as ever to inform me of your little plan."

"Fancy beach house on the shore, a couple dozen of the most infamous arms dealers this side of the continent, should be a walk in the park." With a starbust motion of her hand a projection of the house's layout was displayed on the small side table. "This map isn't thorough, it's only the initial architectural plans before Szell did his own personal renovations. But finding the vault should be easy enough... there's only so many places you can hide something that large."

"And what do you plan to do once you confirm the location of these weapons?" Loki questioned, staring at the map intently.

"We're going to place tracers on them. Right now there's not even a guarantee that they're in working condition, so the information of who's buying them for which area of the world will be more useful than raiding the place." Natasha elaborated, she motioned for Loki to take a seat as the aircraft began to take its descent. "Make sure to smile and look pretty."

* * *

"Welcome, friends." The man whom Loki had recognized from the debriefing greeting the pair of them as they approached the front door. "I believe this is our first introduction. Darius Szell."

"Julian Hyde." Loki replied using the fake identity SHIELD had given him. He shook their host's hand, whose grip was much firmer than necessary. "An honor, to make your acquaintance."

"I've heard quite a bit about you from my current trade partners, Mr. Hyde. I hope that if you enjoy yourselves tonight, you will consider me for your future business endeavors." The man's eyes fell upon Natasha and offered her his hand, which she reached out to take with a fake smile. Szell leaned down and kissed her knuckles, and Loki suppressed his own urge to vomit. "But please, let's not talk of work. Enjoy the party."

"Now if you were a wealthy king pin with a stick up your ass, where would _you_ place a vault." Natasha whispered with a sly smile plastered on her face as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Lowest levels of the house, I would think." Loki evaluated, eyeing the delicate glass architecture that winded toward the upper levels. It was all clearly decoration, lavish to the extreme.

"Thick enough foundation would make it difficult to pick up on scanners..." Natasha pondered.

"Anything above ground would be left vulnerable to sudden attack or infiltration." He finished the thought. "And if I remember the house plan correctly, which I have, the stairs should be right past the waterfall display."

The pair mingled along the way making small talk and edging in on other conversations until picking an opportune time to disappear down the stairs. The section of the house they found themselves in looked largely unfinished, exposed brick, chipping paint and pipelines that ran across the length of the walls. Loki tried his luck turning the handle of the only door in sight, surprised to find it unlocked. He held it open and beckoned Natasha to enter first, which she reluctantly did.

"Well, this section definitely wasn't in the blueprints." She remarked, eyeing the security system in place of a more intimidating doorway that undoubtedly lead to the depths of the house, if anything were to scream _keep out_ , it would be the security system in front of them. "Password protected voice lock, kinetic laser grid, and a biometric scanner."

"Am I to assume this won't be an issue for one as _talented_ as yourself?" He sneered.

"Biometric's easy, I made sure to get a sample on my way in." She raised her wrist, Loki slightly cringing to realize that her skin was still moist from their gracious host's saliva, but he couldn't deny the woman's technique. He parted his lips to inquire about the rest of her plan, but froze at the sound of distant footsteps. Natasha whipped her head around toward the sound of the noise, two heavy sets of shoes closing in proximity in every step.

"Grab my waist." She said in a hushed tone. Loki's brow furrowed together in bewilderment.

"I beg your -" His rebuttal was cut off as Natasha shoved him against the nearest wall, pulling him down by his jacket lapels until they locked lips. He remained frozen in shock as a couple appeared in the doorway, the woman's dress already half unzipped in their drunken stupor. It was the giggly blonde woman that first noticed the two of them pressed up against the wall and stopped in her tracks with a small gasp. Her partner followed her line of sight and coughed awkwardly when he noticed that they were not alone.

"My apologizes, didn't realize this space was... uh... occupied." The large man half slurred as Natasha slowly separated herself from Loki.

"Not to worry, the two of us are done here." Loki reassured, wrapping an arm over Natasha's shoulders in a firm grip as he lead the two of them towards the stairs. "Enjoy the party, my friend."

Loki's grip wasn't hard enough to hurt her, but Natasha could nearly feel the threatening air that hung around the god as they re-entered the main floor.

" _Never_ do that _again_." His low words dripped with venom, in a much more threatening manner than when he had been trying to shake her resolve in the Helicarrier months ago.

"Like I wanted to in the first place, get over yourself." She casually brushed off his hands and grabbed a pair of drinks from the waitstaff, offering one of the glasses to him.

"You realize I could have made us invisible, yes?" He sneered, taking the beverage from her hand. "It is insult enough to use my abilities for a purpose this trivial!"

Natasha watched calmly as he slowly sipped the drink, doubting that it would actually do anything for him after seeing what Thor could pack away. She didn't need to be a master of emotional manipulation to see how enraged the man was, the vein that was popping out in his forehead being obvious enough.

"You two haven't kissed yet, have you?" She questioned, slightly raising an eyebrow at the realization for his temper. She evaluated his reaction to the question, his jaw clenched and nostrils flared, a deep frown set on his face while he stared ahead at the blank wall... Bingo.

Personally, she couldn't understand it. The way that Loki held himself never would have indicated he would value something as a _kiss_ so highly, if she had figured anything about him in their short time together it would be how his tactics in emotional manipulation and charm were close enough to rival hers... _rival_ , but not surpass. To lose his temper over a _kiss_ , a tool of distraction, was the act of a child who believed in fairy tales.

"Here's my plan." He said dryly, as he stared ahead to a small crowd of people which included their host. "You see to the termination of that barrier, and I obtain the passcode."

"Meet downstairs in twenty minutes?" She asked, intrigued by the determination on his face.

"Fifteen, assuming those lustful simpletons have finished their business by then."

* * *

It was only around the twelve minute mark when Natasha's curiosity finally got the better of her. Having already done her part, she was eager to know how Loki was progressing, or even if he was making an attempt. Finding a rather secluded part of one of the upper levels she pulled out a compact from her purse.

After fixing one or two stray hairs from her wig, she pressed two indentations on the device and her own image was replaced with a live feed from the bodycam within Loki's tie clip. She immediately recognized the deep blue suit of their host, and from the movement from the camera she figured that the two of them were heartily chuckling together about... something.

The thought crossed her mind that Loki might betray her, reveal their true identities and lead her straight into a trap. But that wouldn't make much sense, he would be fully aware that the moment his actions come under suspicion that Persephone would be taken into custody.

It was fair to say that no, Natasha didn't trust _Loki_... just his ability to not be a complete idiot.

She watched as the camera's view turned along with his torso as he edged his way out of the conversational circle and slowly started to make his way back downstairs, fifteen minutes must have been up. She clicked the compact shut and placed it back in her bag, beginning her own descent back down to the vault door.

"You're late." Loki chided, stepping out of the shadows of the room as she entered.

"I've got a bug on the generator powering the grid, should disrupt the electrical current unnoticed for about thirty seconds." She replied, finger hovering over a large fake gemstone in her bracelet that would trigger the reaction. "And at second glance brute forcing the passcode shouldn't take too long, but there's no guarantee that I won't trigger anything with any number of mistakes."

"No need." Loki responded dismissively before leaning into the microphone and assumed the voice of Szell to utter a single word. _"Futility."_

"How exactly did you figure that out?" Natasha questioned as she make quick work of deactivating the rest of the security passes, the door now easily accessible.

"I worked under the assumption that he was an arrogant man, one who wouldn't see any point in memorizing a random code or passphrase. No, for it to be worthy of guarding his business it needed to be something personal." Loki explained as the two of them entered a dark hallway, his tone challenged for Natasha to take a guess for herself.

"The only sense of interior design I noticed was the tacky nautical theme with that huge charcoal drawing of - "

"The Titantic." He cut her off, obviously proud of himself at recalling Midgardian history. "As luck may have it, one of the novellas that Persephone had within her collection dealt with a similar plot to the historical events. And our host had a certain affiliation with that same novella."

"That is mighty lucky." Natasha responded skeptically. As they made a final turn down the winding hallway, the space opened up into a large warehouse with dim lighting. Industrial sized shelving units spread as far as their eyes could see, some filled entirely with closed shipping containers but others with Chitauri weaponry laying out like any other piece of inventory. "Here, give me your hand." Reaching into the top section of her dress she removed what looked like a roll of tape. After unwinding the roll, a number of silver devices the size of a pinhead were deposited into his palm. "On anything that looks suspicious... or anything you'd recognize."

"Agent Romanoff, I believe you require more tracers." Loki said solemnly as he looked across the room.

"Random sampling should be enough." She justified, moving to cover the right half of the vault as Loki took the left. "Space them out."

"These have been modified..." She heard Loki whisper in disgust from beyond one of the racks. "It's unfortunate that the only technology humans bother in advancing lies in militia. Even the Tesseract could have propelled you generations forward with space exploration. Yet both times it was discovered it was only used to power weapons of destruction."

"SHIELD's goals are nothing like these peddlers, or like Hydra's." She defended, Hydra's ambition with the artifact would have been used to attack major cities, all SHIELD sought to do with that research was to defend the planet as a whole, work towards a greater good. "And how are we supposed to defend ourselves against these?"

"You're not." He replied sternly. "Earth is no where near the level of development to fend off even this low intelligence foe. You're better off as you were and always will be, fighting each other in petty squabbles over land and religion."

"You involved our people when you sent the Destroyer to New Mexico." She challenged, hearing his footfalls from across the room stop as he sucked in a deep breath.

"You should not speak of circumstances you know nothing of." He said through gritted teeth, preoccupying himself by climbing onto one of the taller racks to place a tracker on one of the larger energy cores.

"Look, I'll play along with you, it's part of my job. But if I'm supposed to take the face value of your soulmate as proof of character, don't expect much." She responded with a hint of sarcasm. Loki hopped down from the shelving unit gracefully and walked over to Natasha's side of the room until he stood before her, craning his neck to stare her down.

"Think of me as you will, but you will not tarnish the name of Persephone so blatantly in my presence."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again. Love is for children." She retorted.

"Spoken like one without a mark." He accused, "I have waited over a thousand years to claim her as my own, and none of you are _mighty_ enough to stand in way of that."

"And is you _claiming_ her really what's best for her?" Natasha practically spat.

"That's not for you to decide." He chuckled darkly, lightly shaking his head back and forth.

"I don't hold back when I see a situation going south." She quirked an eyebrow, deliberately shoving the man out of her way to place her final tracer.

"Why are _you_ acting protective, Agent Romanoff? You have never shown any care for her."

While that was true, Natasha was confident that she and Clint knew far more about the young woman than even her soulmate did. Persephone Evans had been placed on a rather high priority watch list as far back as New Mexico along with Darcy Lewis and Erik Selvig, all three profiles were handcraft by Coulson himself before his untimely demise. The ownership of Persephone's record was passed onto Natasha herself; bank statements, tax returns, medical records, and recordings of nearly all cellular communication she's had over the past few years.

She had no social media, the only existing pictures of her not from security feeds came in the form of Instagram posts from her younger sister and dated headlines of her and now brother-in-law Klaus Warren accepting their Nobel Prize for Physiology. Maybe it was only Natasha that found it strange, but there was no picture of Persephone truly smiling, even at the height of her popularity and career there was only a soft upward curl in her lip.

That being said, the woman did know exactly how to pose for a camera. If the photograph was more casual she would artfully angle her face and hands to cover up her mechanical eye and scaring from surgery, but in publications about her work she was able to bring it effortlessly to the forefront and oozed confidence. It was most logical that the skill had been taught to her at a young age, being that she was raised around a spotlight. Her mother had been a semi-famous opera singer in Korea before moving to the States to marry her father, a renowned photojournalist who was born and raised in New York City.

And the more and more digging into the file she did it was painfully apparent that beyond her inventions, Persephone Evans was essentially a nobody. Before Stark Industries she worked as a free agent contractor for short turnaround projects that ranged from aerospace, robotic surgery, and eventually military radios. She lived on a budget so modest you would think she'd be starving, debt free, taxes paid in full, had a _freaking substantial_ retirement fund in the bag, and no close relations other than her sister who she spoke to nearly once every two weeks.

Not that life was fair, but Natasha felt almost _sorry_ for the young woman and how she was now forced to be involved in such a chaotic life... and wondered if Loki even cared.

"She works hard and gets results, I can respect that." She said plainly, giving a final glance over to confirm the planted tracers were fully functioning. "Shame the two of you don't share that quality."

Loki was about to retort when the warehouse's bright overhead lights were flipped on, causing both of them to momentarily squint their eyes as the individually pressed their backs against the nearest shelving unit for what little cover there was. A slow clap echoed across the walls along with the sound of shoes pacing the metal grating of the catway overlooking their position.

"I had a feeling it was the infamous Black Widow when the two of you arrived, and that you would have managed to reach this vault if it were." Szell called out in a booming voice, giving a signal for his security team to move into the close quarters. "Thank you, madam, for being so predictable."

* * *

 **Huge thank you to all the readers new and old who have favorited, followed, and reviewed this story. Despite being away for long, all the support brings me back to working on this story. New chapter next week!**


	14. Moments

Chapter 14

It wasn't as if Percy hadn't enjoyed the unexpected treat of a first class flight, or even leaving Milwaukee before she unintentionally picked up a Midwestern accent... but she always _hated_ airports. She swore it was where the last shreds of humanity and politeness went to die, and it always became painfully apparent how much TSA needed to update their policies on treating people with medical conditions that just so happen to pass their little metal detector.

She was better when she had time to hype herself up, but the sudden change in flight left her emotionally unprepared.

And no one would tell her why the hell she had been sent back to New York other than ' _a situation had occurred.'_

She silently prayed that there was an issue in her alpha Iron Legion suits instead of something wrong with Loki. She would rather be fired for her work being deplorable than anything of any significance happening to Loki... but how many times in life did she end up lucky?

Percy weaved her way through JFK with her small wheeled suitcase squeaking at every step until she exited the frosty air-conditioned building into the oven that was an NYC August. Glancing at the already existing queue at the taxi booth, she became fully convinced that she herself would become a hard-boiled egg before she ever reached the tower.

 _Beep beep_!

She glanced at the black Mercedes for a moment without much thought, but then realized there were no other cars around it for it to be honking at. It slowly rolled to a stop right next to her, and the tinted side window was rolled down for another unexpected detail.

"Hey kid, throw that thing in the back and hop in." Clint commanded casually while stretched across the passenger's side and reached back to pop the trunk. Percy eyed him for a moment before nodding silently and following the orders, skidishly placing down the luggage and stood on the tips of her toes to lower the trunk back into place. As she walked back to the front seat Clint reached over and swung it out for her and she muttered a small "thanks."

He didn't even wait until she had fastened her seatbelt before taking off, swerving in and out of lanes with a smooth precision but without any real sense of urgency. Percy couldn't tell if it was the driving or the man himself that it felt like her heart was hammering in her chest. The two of them had never been on the best of terms, in fact she could probably count the number of words he'd spoken to her on a single hand despite the fact that they worked in such close proximity.

He usually acted distant, and the sunglasses he was currently wearing didn't exactly help make the marksman any less intimidating.

"You cold?" Clint's small remark pulled her back to reality, and the very real fact that she had been shaking was noticeable enough for him to turn down the AC.

"I'm fine... but thanks." She squeaked out in a much higher pitch than intended.

"Relax, kid." He scoffed, "I'm not here to kill ya or anything."

"You know, I'm nearly thirty." She retorted, ignoring the latter comment entirely.

"Seriously?" He turned his head quickly to look at her before refocusing on the road and chuckled. "Hell without the grays you could probably still pass for a minor."

"Thanks?" She said tentatively, unsure how to feel about what was probably meant to be a compliment. Should she get her hair touched up? She had started going gray at the ripe age of seventeen, just a strand here or there that Cora would pluck out without warning. But she had noticed that ever since the Battle of New York they were far less frequent, and couldn't help but wonder if all those studies about soulmates living healthier and longer lives actually had some weight to them.

"Oh shit, what I meant is -" Clint stumbled with his words for a moment, running a hand through his short hair. He cleared his throat with a low cough. "I mean, you look good. Yeah, you look good. What's your secret, botox?"

"Only on half my face." She raised her right eyebrow to demonstrate, the skin on her forehead staying smooth and no signs of winkles.

"Wouldn't have pegged you the type for that sort of thing." He said delicately.

"It was for my chronic nerve damage from my accident." She said candidly, watching as the older man hissed through his teeth with a tightly locked jaw.

"Geez, I'm really fucking this up, aren't I?"

"Clint, you don't have to force banter. Honestly, it's freaking me out."

"That's fair." He barked out with a laugh. "Nat and I haven't really tried, haven't really _wanted_ to give you a chance."

"I don't get out of the lab for social calls anyways." Percy admitted.

"Oh come on. I bet you make friends easy." He insisted. "You know, I was there in New Mexico when Thor came to Earth for the first time. Hell, I thought I had seen everything after joining SHEILD but Norse Gods from space? The world really became something else."

"They are something else... aren't they?" She admitted, a small smile forming on her face.

"What I mean to say, which is uh -" Clint cleared his throat awkwardly. "You knew him for what, two days? I don't know anyone else who would have the balls to do the same for a total stranger."

"I don't know what I was even thinking back then."

"You weren't. Which is er- it's good! Need to trust your gut every now and then, keeps life interesting."

"I think I've had my fill of _interesting_." She grumbled, tugging at the roots of her hair as if it would remove her constant migraine. "Always figure'd I was gonna retire one day and just live alone... be some sort of old crazy snake lady."

"Pretty sure that the phrase is crazy cat lady." He corrected.

"I'm allergic to cats." She challenged.

"You really aren't a small-talker, are ya?" He chuckled. "Nat says I talk too much, probably true but she tries to keep me humble."

"Well, she's failing."

"There ya go! I knew there was some humor in there! Tony's always going on about how you give'em hell." Clint had seen a tiff or two between Tony and Pepper, but he was willing to pay cold hard cash to see that man get bossed around the quiet little engineer Percy projected herself to be. "By the way, what's the tomato soup story?"

"He didn't tell you that one?" She scoffed, shaking her head back and forth at the memory.

"Nah, something about legal issues."

"Like that's stopped him before. I'll save it for the next Tower party, how about that?"

"Deal." He took one hand off of the steering wheel and held it out to her, and Percy gave a firm grip and they shook hands for a bargain struck. The remainder of the ride was silent until they finally reached the Tower's garage. Clint expertly parked the car next to Percy's blue beetle, which despite it's prime condition after all these years was easily the dinkiest vehicle in the whole place.

"So, am I allowed to know what the big work emergency was now?" She questioned as they both climbed out of the car., Clint took it upon himself to handle her luggage. Though her tone has been teasing, Clint's entire body tensed up as he closed the trunk of the car shut.

"Right well... you see..." Clint's face scrunched up in discomfort as he searched for the words. "No real easy way to say this, but Loki got shot."

 _"Shot?!"_ She repeated, her voice raised an entire octave.

"But!" Clint cut her off immediately, raising up one hand. "He's fine! Completely fine... Relatively."

"Relative to _what_?"

"Well, that's the tricky part, kinda why we had to call you in." Percy stayed hot on his heels as they entered the Avengers secured elevator, both of them holding their IDs to the scanner before ascending. "He took a direct hit from one of the modified alien tech weapons we were scoping for, so no need for bullet removal. But those things pack a hell of a punch, and hasn't let anyone get near. No doctors, no medical supplies... nothing."

Percy was quiet as she processed the information, her emotions quickly turning from concern to guilt. Shouldn't she have known if something drastic happened to him? Would that be the sort of thing she would feel in their connection? She was a sad excuse for a soulmate, leaving Loki to suffer alone.

"You're connected to Jarvis, right?" Clint asked, breaking her away from the self deprecating thoughts.

"Yeah," She lightly shook her head, searching for words to say. "I like taking him along to conferences with me cause then I don't have to take notes or remember names."

"So here's our plan." He started to explain as the elevator arrived on the floor she shared with the Asgardians. The doors opened up into the common area, where Natasha was sitting on the couch expectedly. "We send _you_ to go patch him up, Nat and I will see through your eyes and talk you through it, step by step."

"Are you crazy?!" She accused, turning to look him straight in the eye and pointed a finger at herself. "I'm not qualified for something like this! My CPR licence has been expired for three years!"

"Nat and I have treated flesh wounds in the field with a lost less." Clint reassured her and they entered the floor. Natasha rose from her seat to meet them halfway with short but purposeful strides and offered Percy a specialized medical kit. "Just do as we say, keep your head on your shoulders and we'll have that sucker patched up in no time."

"But I don't understand, if you're going to be telling me what to do, why don't one of you two just kick his door down?"

"Because more than likely he's doing this to make a point." Natasha elaborated. Percy was used to Natasha analyzing her with a hard, unrelenting gaze but this time it felt fundamentally different. This time it felt like the redhead was looking for something specific, and seemed almost satisfied after she had evaluated Percy's unsubstantial height that was equal to her own, give or take an inch or two.

Steve had been right, trust between the team would have to be a two-way street, but now it wasn't Loki with something to prove. Natasha hadn't trusted leaving him to his own devices, hadn't trusted him with any weapon, and in spite of all that... Loki had essentially taken a bullet for her. It was damn near infuriating.

"We've gone over all the possibilities, this was the best compromise we could think of." Natasha gave the other woman an awkward pat on the shoulder and a semblance of a smile before showing her their surveillance set up on the kitchen island. Percy input her credentials and permission codes that would allow the two of them to directly view a live feed from her. She confirmed that their microphone was synced to her own earpiece before making her way down the hall, the medical supplies in her hand feeling much heavier than they realistically were.

* * *

For what Loki counted as being the twelfth time, the sound of knocking interrupted his reading. He lazily rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to one of the historical books that Persephone had lent him. He became pleasantly surprised at the caliber and eloquence that humans gave to topics as seemingly trivial as the creation of what was referred to as the Oxford dictionary. What did bother him though, were the small dogears that littered the pages in nearly all of Persephone's books. He wanted to be annoyed at the creasing of paper, but as his finger stroked the corner of the ruined page his features softened, knowing that her calloused fingers had been the ones to leave the marks.

"Loki, open up." He froze at the demanding tone of his mate from the other side of the door, her presence was not something he had accounted for. "I know you're in there!" She called out again, her sharp knocks now picking up speed and unrelenting. Slightly cursing under his breath, he all but dragged himself out of the chair and limped to the door. Hand on the doorknob, he closed his eyes for a moment to compose himself before smiling and swinging the door open.

"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise?" He said with labored breath, leaning against the door frame for support. "I - well I thought you were away on business for another two days."

"And I thought I told you to _be safe_ while I was gone." She accused with a short tone. Despite her best efforts to seem intimidating, Loki couldn't hide his amusement at seeing her lower lip pout. "May I come in?"

"My door is always open for you." Loki stepped aside and welcomed her with a sweeping arm gesture. The room itself was small and clean, a carbon copy of the white modern furniture that had been in her own bedroom on the other end of the floor. It felt halfway between a hotel and a cell, but she had never really noticed since she hardly spent any waking hours in her own.

"I don't understand you, I really don't." She made quick work to settle the first aid kit on his nearly empty desk, spreading out disinfectants and bandages in varying sizes. He couldn't see her face, but the way that her breath hitched as she spoke threatened to give way to tears. "Who in their right mind just _lets_ themselves be shot and then refuses to see a doctor?"

"My injury was not exactly self inflicted, you know." He said defensively as he locked the door to the room. Percy didn't notice as his eyes raked her up and down, following all the curves that the deep purple pantsuit she was wearing clung to so well. Despite their meeting in Germany, he had only seen her in clothes of a more casual fashion. But like this, she gave the air of a woman in charge. It made him eager to see more sides of her. "Did I mention you look ravishing? You should dress this way more often."

"Don't change the subject, mister." Percy said, somewhat accustomed by now to Loki's flirting whenever the two of them were alone. "How did this even happen?"

"You and Romanoff are a similar height," Loki admitted, now standing beside her while clutching his side, the particular section of his abdomen lining up almost perfectly with her upper chest. "How could I not know where your heart lies?" He whispered with a chuckle, pleased when he saw her cheeks flush with red ever so slightly.

"You're making it very difficult for me to be cross with you." Percy growled, motioning him to sit in the desk chair as she sat on her knees facing opposite of him. Loki sucked in a deep breath as she reached to undo the bottom portion of his shirt, a peroxide soaked cloth in hand.

As soon as the wound was brought to light her brow became fixed in an intense concentration, she let out a small gasp and turned her eyes down toward the floor, shielding her vision away from Loki with her hand.

"Hey Percy, what's wrong?" She heard Clint ask through her earpiece. Her heart pounded violently as she felt a wave of panic being to set in, she was aware of Loki speaking as well, but his voice became drowned out as her limbs became weak. In no time at all, she felt her eyes swell and the cold track of fresh tears trailing down her cheeks.

"I-It's just -" Her voice hitched as tears dropped freely to the ground. She felt Loki shift his body weight and begin to delicately pet her head in the efforts of calming her down.

"Love, it's alright, you don't have to do this. Please, look at me." He pleaded. Percy shook her head back and forth weakly and kept her gaze firmly on the ground.

"You have to take deep breaths, try not to panic." Natasha's voice instructed. "We didn't see it for long, but trust me, those injuries always look worse than they actually are."

"I-It looks so awful." Percy whispered in a quivering voice.

"It's going to get worse if you don't disinfect it. You wouldn't want to be responsible for that, would you?" Natasha spoke again firmly.

"No, no, of course not." Percy snipped, wiping some of the tears away with her sleeve. "Jarvis, can you activate privacy settings?"

"Unfortunately, I cannot. Mr. Odinson must be under surveillance for all hours of the day." The crisp voice of the AI responded from the speakers in the room's ceiling.

"Can you at least turn the auditory off? I really don't want the others to hear me cry." There was a moment of silence, as if Jarvis was calculating the appropriate response. " _Please,_ J." Percy pleaded, a solid beat of silence falling over the room.

"I have removed audio feed from your microphone as well as those within the room." Jarvis responded. "If you wish to revert the setting simply double tap on your earpiece."

"Persephone." Loki called her name gently while she hand remained tangled in her hair. "I assure you, I regenerate faster than your kind. If this displeases you so, I would rather you leave."

"Well that's too bad, 'cause you're stuck with me." She made a point to not look at Loki's face as she lifted up his shirt one more time, and began to dab the afflicted area gently with the cloth with a trembling hand. Although he sat rather stoically, Loki did flinch or hiss from time to time.

"The footage is pretty blurry from all the crying... ow!" Clint shouted as a large slap was heard.

"Clint, stop being such an ass!" Natasha whispered before giving Persephone further instructions to follow.

Percy followed Natasha's words to a T, despite it being very difficult for her to see at all... but she had to make due with her makeshift plan.

"Now listen carefully." Percy whispered in a stern voice, still keeping her gaze on Loki's lower abdomen. "Don't look up, but the camera for this room is in the upper right corner behind me."

She could feel as Loki casually slumped over in the chair and covered the camera's view of his mouth with his hand, pretending as if he was biting on his flesh to counteract the pain. He set his eyes straight ahead at one of the bedroom walls. "What do you wish to discuss in such secrecy?"

"How about the fact that this isn't a real wound?" She retorted. Loki's eyes snapped to her face at the accusation, and while Persephone's face remained red and puffy, her lips held a knowing smirk. "You're a great liar though, everyone else is totally convinced." He yelped and doubled over in fake pain, grasping one of her shoulders and deliberately placing his head near her ear.

"I should have known that you would be able to see through me." He praised, every movement of his lips just barely grazed her earlobe. "When did you figure it out?"

"As soon as I saw it." It had been the same every time that Loki had conjured a double of himself or morphed into a different persona, although his magic always looked believable in every physical sense she had been able to identify them without fail. There was no guarantee that the others would be able to see through him as well, though. So she had to keep the up close footage they were viewing blurry, that way it would be even harder to tell.

"You approve of my deception?"

"Please, this is the best idea you've had since you've gotten here." She smugly answered as she applied a large bandage as a final step. "You're building trust and riddling them with guilt at the same time... genius."

"You should be careful, Persephone." The deep quality of his voice bringing her to finally look at his face, and the gleam in his eyes. "Keep speaking like that, and I may just fall in love with you."

His hands quickly moved to grasp the nape of her neck, pulling her closer. Percy remained frozen as their lips barely brushed together... when the hands that had been holding her were suddenly released and Loki's entire body began to convulse in real pain. He clawed at the bracelet on his wrist as the electricity forced him back in his chair. Percy whips around and makes eye contact with the camera in the corner of the room.

"JARVIS!" She shrieked, the movement from her lips and the anger in her expression was more than enough for the AI to understand.

"Any sudden or unpredictable movement is treated indiscriminately, for your own safety of course." Jarvis explained coolly, earning a grumble from Loki.

"Damn that machine." He muttered, rubbing the area of flesh around the bracelet's contact. Persephone surely refused to see it, but if any computer was capable of holding a grudge, the one she called _Jarvis_ was it. And why Persephone held such a high affection for a program was beyond his own comprehension, it wasn't as if it were a living being capable of caring for her.

"Play nice." She chided while fighting back a laugh. Now that she thought about it, Loki had been exceedingly slow and gentle with every touch since he had arrived. He had been waiting, evaluating her reactions. To be fair, she had been terrified... haunted by nightmares of the past and fresh memories of violence. But she could feel it now stronger than ever, the true Loki and where his intentions lie. "I know you'll never hurt me."

Taking his hand in her own, Percy pressed her lips against the cool pale skin of his wrist. He turned his hand to cup her face and wiped away the last of her tears. Percy placed her hands on his strong thighs to push herself up from her kneeling position, her face now hovering mere inches above his.

"Persephone..." He hissed.

Her eyes fluttered shut as she leaned down and closed the gap between them. The kiss was soft but firm, the way that their lips molded so perfectly together was enough to send a violent current down her spine comporable to the times she had accidentally electrocuted herself in the lab. Just as she began to pull away, she felt two strong hands rake through her hair, nails scraping lightly against her scalp to keep her in place. Loki hungrily deepened the kiss, expertly taking control to the point that her knees began to tremble.

"Uh -" The hesitant voice of Clint in her earpiece was enough to make Percy's head snap back. "Hey so, I think we're gonna go now." The sound of a sharp smack and another wail from Clint was the last she heard before the communication dropped to a dead silence. Loki took it upon himself to remove the device from her ear, tossing it behind him without care.

"Get back here." He calmly demanded, accentuating each word with razor sharp authority. One part of Percy wanted to challenge him, just for fun... but the larger part couldn't resist those eyes that stalked hers like a hungry predator, and she couldn't help but oblige.

* * *

 **A/N: Brownie points if you get the title chapter reference**


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